Did we all die today?

Who says justice cannot be bought? I am reminded of the emotional speech made recently by our chief justice. Likening the judiciary to Baba Rehmat (a wise old man), he said: “The judiciary is your baba ... do not doubt its integrity.” The chief justice said those against whom a judgment had been issued had the right to criticise the motive behind the verdict, but he questioned the insinuations of the “judiciary being part of a plan.”

Please Baba explain to the sister and family of Shahzeb Khan what happened in the case of Shahrukh Jatoi, who seems to have walked away from the gallows. This young man and his associates have been given bail despite the fact that all circumstantial evidence points to the fact that they killed a young man in cold blood. Does the Baba feel that justice is only an option for the rich?

The Peoples Party government of the time under the wise and able leadership of president Asif Zardari, did all it could to facilitate the murderers. It was a close aide of the president who let Shahrukh Jatoi be smuggled to Dubai. Had it not been for the notice taken by the chief justice of that time, the case would have ended there.

On December 27, 2012, this newspaper reported in its article “Murdered in cold blood: For Sindh’s feudals, Karachi lives come cheap” how Shahzeb Khan, the son of a middle ranking police officer was killed because he got into a fight with the guard of Shahrukh Jatoi who had earlier teased Shahzeb’s sister. Despite having come to some agreement, Jatoi and his guards are reported to have killed Shahzeb in cold blood as he drove his car out of the apartment block some time later.

So shameless is the Sindh police that despite the fact that a son of its own officer had been killed, it failed to recover the murderers. It was only after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in January 2013 took suo motu notice of the news that appeared in this paper and a programme on Express News that the wheels of justice started to turn. Till that time, despite the passage of a week, the police had been unable to apprehend the killers.

When they did finally make it to the court, one’s blood would boil in the manner these men would parade themselves. They would flash victory signs and smile without any shame of what they had done. It was obvious they had a better understanding of the Pakistani legal system than any one of us.

Between 2012 and 2017, we have seen a farce taking place. In this, the state worked, as usual, against the victims. The family was pressurised into giving a pardon under the controversial Qisas and Diyat Laws, (a gift of another great president General Ziaul Haq) and under which Raymond Davis also won his freedom. It seems only the poor get capital punishment. A survey of the economic background of those hanged over the past few years proves this.

What is the lesson here for all of us? To begin with, the men and women of Karachi have to understand that they can be killed at will by feudal landlords or anyone with any connection to the ruling party of Sindh. Take the case of Ali Hajiano, the serial rapist who also murdered several innocent women. His case continues to linger in the courts. His father is a small time party affiliate.

The Sindh government continues to give protocol to these criminals and law breakers. Most of those who went to receive Sharukh Jatoi came in government cars or cars with no number plates. One way to identify how big a crook a person is in Sindh is by the number of police guards in his protocol, says one journalist. This may not entirely be true but the manner in which police is used and abused by men of questionable characters begs many questions of our CM.

Baba, is this the Pakistan we have struggled and paid taxes for? So that those who pay no taxes and drive their four-wheel drive cars all over us, can bully us with their guards who almost always carry unlicensed weapons. Is it time for us to pack up and move on if we have the option? Lives of the middle-class in Sindh seem to have no value. I wish I lived in Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2017.

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