The gruesome justice meted out to two young men in Sialkot, accused of killing and extortion, has pained me so intensely that I could not resist expressing my sentiments, despite the fact that so much has been said and written on the subject.
I do not know what were the facts behind the lynching of these two men, but even if they were criminals, they should have been brought to justice through police and not through public anger. The anger showed by the alleged killers was a show of such a horrific dimension, that it sent cold waves into my spine. Beside this gruesome act, what hurts me more is that it was done in the presence of a crowd of hundreds, including the policemen in the forefront. Everyone watched on and none showed any sign of humanity and sympathy by at least raising a voice to stop the drama. The onlookers even had the guts to film the show of the dying men at the hands of a few lunatic and fanatics, who clubbed the victims so ferociously as if they had enmity with them since millenniums.
It seemed that the crowd had taken the incident as an act of “speedy justice” and decided not to intervene. If this could be taken as an analogy for the murder committed in front of them, then from now on we can expect similar justice on every nook and corner of the our streets. But stop!! Were the “implementers of justice” pious and had never sinned, for even the prophets had said that let the first stone be thrown by the one who had not sinned. And the way the boys were beaten gave an impression that their murderers looked criminals of highest order as no sane person would do a thing so gruesome and horrific like this.
The silence by the police showed apathy of a different kind. Since they themselves do similar acts in the dark rooms of their police stations, they seemed to be satisfied that the beaters had done what they could have done otherwise and let the blame slipped on the beaters instead of the police. It was just like a “police muqabla (fake encounter)” staged around us more often than not.
Interestingly, some are of the opinion that since the justice is inordinately delayed in Pakistan, it is better to take justice in own hands, like fake police encounters, to “dispose off the case swiftly and cheaply.” While the statement is true to an extent that the justice in our country gets so delayed that sometimes the murder cases take years altogether before a case snails from lower courts to the epic court. But we as a society cannot allow this bear and the dog fight (a show normally seen in rural areas where a bear is tied to a pole and the made to “fight” with dogs – thank God due to efforts of the society against cruelty to animal that this game has subsided to a great extent) go on to please us.
The concern shown by the majority of our people is a good sign – something that shows that no one is willing to ratify inhuman acts like the one we witnessed on TV and that no one is of the opinion that the justice be meted out without giving a fair chance to the accused. Having said that, it saddens me to read reports in the newspapers that as section of “influential people” is trying to hush up the matter as it concerns the police as a party.
Everyone of us would want a very strict action be taken against the culprits so that no such incidence takes place in future. I would go on to say that even the crowd be made equally responsible and party to this gory act and charged under the law for aiding the murder. Let the rule of law prevail. Let the justice be provided to every individual, no matter how poor one may be, so that tomorrow no one takes law in one’s hand on the pretext of delayed justice.
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