The first responsibility of the state is to protect the life and property of its citizens.
LAHORE: Your newspaper in its September 10 issue quoted Dr Babar Awan on the front page as saying that “the federation cannot be held responsible for killings in Karachi or any other part of the country”. I never thought people who are so close to the ruling clique in this country could go to such depths.
Let me tell the doctor, whose degree itself is under question, that the first responsibility of the state is to protect the life and property of its citizens. The learned doctor should know this is why we have the state and its law-enforcing agencies, courts and the police. The doctor, in the name of misguided and opportunistic politics, seems to be advocating anarchy. If the federation is not responsible, who is? Why does his comrade-in-arms Rehman Malik run to Karachi every time there’s trouble there? Does he go to save the coalition so that the ruling party can stay in power? If so, this happens at the expense of the function of the state.
Sajjad Ashraf
(Former High Commissioner of Pakistan to Singapore)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2011.
