Impunity for the rich

There is no greater injustice than a man being killed by their fellows in cold blood. Isolated incidents may be attributed to acts of emotion, but when killings become means for power, one must question not only their contract with society but also the society’s ability to ensure that everyone adheres to this contract. Thus the first chink to become apparent in any society’s armour — called law — is the impunity of committing such acts and the recession of society’s writ at the mere mention of a superior power.

This has been the lesson of recent events. The freshest sample of which was the torture and subsequent murder of Nazim Jokhio. The Thatta native had spotted unidentified men blocking a road and trespassing in his area. When he confronted them and asked for identities, he was beaten up. While he approached the police and complained about the torture, he instead started receiving threats. Ultimately, he went missing, only to be found dead several score miles away at a farmhouse in Karachi. The victim’s family blamed PPP MPA Jam Awais, who was allegedly entertaining some guests on a hunting trip and whom Jokhio had stumbled upon. Awais has since been arrested and remanded into police custody.

Too often we have seen that those in power perpetrate excesses against those less powerful. Does this happen because the state is no longer the final arbiter of violence? Or is it because it has lost all wherewithal to be the ultimate arbiter of justice and law, protecting the weak against the powerful. Some will argue that these days, it can hardly protect itself. The fact is that murders of people like Jokhio happen because the rich and powerful enjoy impunity. Jokhio’s family must get justice and all members of the Sindh assembly must ensure this. Moreover, the culprits must be made a defining example so that no one else can ever ignore the state or its laws.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2021.

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