The fall guys

Police officers in particular and civil servants in general are stunned. The verdict came after ten years and at a time when most folk had lost track of where it had all begun. All five accused are acquitted. Two police officers have been sentenced to 17 years for mishandling a crime scene. Seventeen years is a long time — certainly longer than the usual 14 years for murder. The judgment is harsh. The officers are known to be honest and without any political affiliations. Clearly they have no political backing either. Insufficient evidence, fear (or favour) may have factored into a case which has concluded without identification of assassin(s), aiders and abettors or even planners and plotters. The only certainty is with regard to the two scapegoats with 17 years jail time as punishment for both.

It doesn’t sound right. And that only because it is not right. An unrestrained crowd was lurking dangerously close to the victim. A man was videotaped holding a weapon and shooting in the general direction of the victim. Countless enemies and series of suspect beneficiaries enhance the list of intrigues alongside the unexplained death of a witness soon after the incident. Missing pieces of evidence, inconsistent narratives and shifting versions of eyewitnesses keep adding to the mystery. There are uncounted loose ends left to the imagination of a curious mind. Nowhere in the deep recesses of the imagination would one identify two civil servants on duty as the only perpetrators that warrant severe punishment.

Although this was the vilest of assassinations, carefully plotted, planned and executed in broad daylight (or twilight) but neither the investigation nor the judgment offer any clues as to where to look next. The murder of US President John F Kennedy is still besieged with mystery, a reality that is cited to pacify snooping types who seek to know more. Treacheries surrounding the death of Pakistan’s first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, have echoed in order to create parallels. However, there is no hesitation in pounding whoever was available for pounding; and the sentences are completely disproportionate to the role played by these officers. The case is now summarised as punishment of two police officers caught in the middle of a crisis of extraordinary proportions. It is as though no one else ever factored in that one moment which is bursting with bizarre intrigues and precarious inferences.

Ironically enough the judgment is akin to the police thrashing suspects into submission until false confessions are compelled and the crime is solved. In this case the judgment identifies only two culprits and hammers them with unrestrained intensity. No other perpetrator or offender is available for general dispensation of justice and the particular gratification of legitimate heirs. There is no other method of adding meat to the document even if it is done purely for the sake of posterity. A murder case of phenomenal proportions that has taken 10 years to conclude cannot have a judgment which does not punish anyone. Such judgments are seldom remembered in history books. Wrongdoers must be branded and penalised immediately — immediately after 10 years.

‘It is nought good a sleepyng hound to wake’ (Chaucer 1380) — in other words it is best to let sleeping dogs lie. The stakes were high in 2007 and are still considered to be so. Resurrection will be essential with heads rolling in succession, and the waking of the hound can lead to unfamiliar territory. It may contain unexpected pitfalls for stakeholders. Entering blind alleyways in the pitch dark is not recommended under any circumstances. Civil servants — in this case the police — are convenient scapegoats and freely utilised for this purpose; yet even if it is overtly unjust the bigger picture must be preserved.

How many young police officers are looking at other career options in the wake of this judgment? How many officers will hesitate or falter in an emergency? What will be the impact on the institution that provides security and maintains law and order? These questions will remain unanswered. When officers are hammered as fall guys there is little that can undo the damage. Bleak despair will prevail even if higher courts reverse the judgment and provide relief to the officers. For young police officers the future looks unpromising and desolate comprised as it is by risks, hazards and injustice.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2017.

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