Making a mockery of justice
August 8th, 2012
Notions of decency, dignity and morality seem to be vanishing fast from our land of the pure and what we appear to be left with is a twisted sense of honour and justice. This painful reality hit home like never before with the shameful events that took place in Gambat, Sindh, coming into limelight. As reported in this newspaper, a woman and a man were paraded naked in public by the Khairpur police on July 27, on allegations of “intent of adultery”. The case that was registered for the incident recounted that “the police received a tip-off about a man, who had called on two women for adultery”. On reaching his residence, the three were allegedly found to be in a compromising position by the policemen. This triggered the most depraved of responses from the law enforcers with a video clip of the incident revealing that the area’s SHO and his henchmen paraded the man and one of the women naked, while escorting them to the police station as an apparent punishment for their alleged crime.
This event brings into sharp focus the mentality of our law enforcers — especially those stationed in smaller towns and villages — who abuse their authority with extreme abandon and have absolutely no qualms about taking on the roles of judge, jury and executioner. This is not the first time that the law enforcement mechanism, instead of providing justice, only served to make a mockery of it, and unfortunately, this will not be the last time this happens, either. Whatever wrongdoing the accused may have been involved in, subjecting them to such an ordeal — and that, too, by those who did not have the authority to pronounce judgments on their actions — goes beyond the norms of justice and decency. One associated acts of this nature with the kind of vigilante justice that jirgas meted out, but to see law enforcers acting in a similar manner is highly disturbing.
Thankfully, the SHO in question along with his cohorts, have been suspended from duty. Now is the time to set the right precedent. All those involved in this despicable act must be dismissed from the police force and criminally charged. Anything less than this will only serve to encourage those enjoying power to continue to abuse it at will.
Taking up arms
August 8th, 2012
he Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief, Altaf Hussain, never stays out of the headlines for long. This time, at an iftari hosted by the MQM, he called on Karachi’s businessmen to buy whatever sophisticated weapons they could, including A-3s and Kalashnikovs, in order to deal with extortionists. Mr Hussain suggested that even if bribes needed to be paid, these weapons should be acquired as the business community had no other means to deal with the ‘bhatta’ mafia. He also said that the MQM would be willing to provide 100,000 men to help the business community protect itself. He pointed out that traders were already spending huge sums of money paying ‘bhatta’ and may as well hire bodyguards instead.
Mr Hussain’s remarks came in the presence of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and other senior government officials, who all appeared embarrassed by the contents of his speech. Mr Hussain stated that they had failed to protect people and also asked Mr Malik why he spoke so often of an operation in Lyari when none took place, day after day and week after week. This is not the only attack Mr Malik faced. He was also asked why he was calling the people of Balochistan ‘terrorists’ or ‘anti-national elements’, when in fact, they were victims of the security forces0. His criticism of the government also covered other areas and he stated that while he opposed any division of Sindh there may be no choice left in the future.
Mr Malik made an attempt to defend the government and also lavished the MQM chief with praise, saying it was because of him that the government was still intact. This, however, hardly covered up all that Mr Hussain had said. His remarks obviously come as a sharp rebuke to the government and send a tremor to the uneasy coalition that exists. A major national leader calling on people to take up arms is in some ways highly disquieting and indicates the times of trouble we have run into in Karachi and indeed everywhere else.
Wisconsin shooting
August 8th, 2012
There is a certain ritual that plays itself out whenever someone goes on a senseless, hate-filled shooting spree in the US. Firstly, no one is allowed to talk about the ease with which citizens can buy weaponry in the country and the lack of gun-control laws, since that would amount to ‘politicising’ the tragedy. Then, the word terrorism is rarely used if the perpetrator happens not to be a Muslim. This needs to be reconsidered when discussing the murder of six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin by a white supremacist Wade Michael Page. Clearly, Page was inspired by hatred for anyone who differed from him in the slightest manner and he deliberately set out to kill members of a certain group. If this is not terrorism, then the word no longer holds meaning.
Page was known to be a member of a neo-Nazi rock band and a white supremacist group. Such latent racism in itself should be grounds for refusing to let him buy arms and ammunition. The US Congress now needs to get over its fear of angering the gun lobby and pass bans on handguns and machine guns since such guns are rarely used for hunting, self-defence or other legitimate reasons. They exist mainly to be used by those who want to kill a large group of people as quickly as possible. Other countries, including most of Europe that have passed such bans, have seen a significant drop in violence.
That Page was a member of the military for six years is also important to note. There is certainly a possibility that such hate was instilled in him during his service. Scandals like the one where a military chaplain was found to preach Christian power while demonising others have called into question the tolerance and diversity in the US military. Ultimately, though, now that Page is dead we may never know where his pure, unadulterated hate came from or why he particularly chose the Sikh community as a target. Once the time for mourning is over, however, the US will have to take a long hard look at itself.