Sialkot brothers' killing: A Bushra Zaidi in the making?

NEW YORK: On Aug 15, dozens of people publicly beat to death two young brothers, Hafiz Mughees, 15, and Hafiz Muneeb, 19. Present on the “occasion” were the Sialkot District Police Officer Waqar Chauhan and eight policemen. These crime-stoppers watched crime committed literally on their watch. Instead of watching out for crime being committed, these immoral state employees watched the brutal act of lynching taking place in front of their own trained and watchful eyes. They could have stopped – even resisted, called for backup, reinforcement, etc. But they were silent spectators, like watching a favorite mohalla pastime being played out in a galli. In fact, news reports said the SHO allegedly masterminded the killing of the brothers. He has fled away and is still at large.

The bodies of the Hafiz brothers were later hanged upside down on the chowk. Some reports said the locale was the exterior of 1122 rescue office. Phew! what a way to rescue – or be rescued! Allah Khair Karey!
Mob frenzy, gang mentality, gladiator philosophy –all of these jellied and spurted out like toothpaste and cleansed their demented souls. Souls of all those who volunteered to witness the gory incident – on a day after the 63rd birth anniversary of Pakistan.

It’s an irony that lawlessness danced in concert with immorality on a day of fasting. It’s the holy month of Ramadan when even the sinful slow down. How many of those who watched the lynching were fasting that day? Did they break their fast with it or after it?

“What message have you given to the world about Pakistan,” the Chief Justice asked DPO Chauhan and said: “Nowhere in a civilized society such an incident takes place in the presence of police.”

What about the message sent up who watched all of it and whose first language is silence?

“Not only it was the duty of police to stop those who were beating the two brothers, but the people in the mob should also have shown moral courage by preventing the beating,” the chief justice said.

The DPO told the court that FIR against 12 people has been lodged on charges of murder of the two young men while SHO has been taken into custody. Why wasn’t this done on the same day? Why didn’t the Punjab IG take notice of it? Where were the local politicians? PML-N, PML-Q, PPP, PTI? What about the Punjab administration? The system failed!

Will the arrest of the 12 police officers bring back the soul of the two brothers? One is said to be a Hafiz Quran, other one I am not sure. Both were crazy about cricket I am told. Khawaja Asif (PML-N) told Shahid Masood he knew the family well and over three generations. Did he contact them the day this incident happened or did he wait to jump into action once the news hit the roof and became a “public issue” to be milked for political mileage?

Today is the sixth day of the horrible incident. While the Dapper Dan chief executive of the country chose to remain silent, the delusional but Teflon President came out from his bunker (on the sixth day) to strongly condemn the killing and called for report, inquiry, etc. into the gruesome incident. What is he going to do after that? Stack it along with Benazir Bhutto murder report?

It is a defining moment for the introduction of rule of law in Pakistan. Now or never! Only the youth can push this matter through though. They just sacrificed two of their own. If the death of Bushra Zaidi could be the defining moment for politics in Karachi, so can the death of these two brothers be for the advent of rule of law in Pakistan. The rest will swirl into place like the unwinding of a warped wire of a telephone headset. Go for it. Pakistan is still wired – not cordless!

Musings

*** How can you have an 'independent judiciary' if u do not have 'rules and laws' established in the country in order to interpret them, act upon them and enforce them. In short 'rule of law' without existence of rules and laws is actually an empty slogan. A judiciary screaming to be 'independent' and yearning to enforce rules and laws is useless without the existence of RULES and LAWS. Therefore, an independent and proactive judiciary sans rules and laws is like having a bull in a Chinashop. All it will do is further judicial activism which can do wrong.

Rules and laws are made by legislative assemblies, by the elected representatives of the people. But with leaders and politicians who have vast vote banks in the form of loyal tribes, clans and communities, they perpetuate their personal agendas by using democracy to enter parliament - thus these people cannot afford to create any rules and laws. It will defang them. So they won't let rules and lwas be created or implemented.

Only non-tribal leaders and politicians - unfortunately a motley group in Pakistan now the middle class one's or supported by the middle class- can and will create rules and laws. It is their best defense for their livelihood, social and political survivals. Present example of such leaders across party line: Mushahid Hussain, Raza Rabbani, Aitzaz Ahsan, Imran Khan, to name a few.

Interestingly all of them are from the middle class, educated, non-tribal socially and mindset wise.