Crime and cover-ups

The recent heinous incident involving the gang-rape and murder of a woman in Jamshoro town of Sindh has once again exposed the ugly underbelly of our society and the systemic rot that allows such brutality to flourish. According to initial reports, while two suspects have been apprehended, a staggering 11 others remain at large, raising urgent questions about the efficacy of our law enforcement machinery.

This is not just a criminal failure, but a moral indictment of a system that consistently fails to protect women and other vulnerable citizens. The case is tragically not an isolated incident but part of a disturbing pattern of violence that keeps recurring across the country, requiring powerful parties to intervene before the wheels of justice even begin to move. And while the power of 'influential' men is most potent in villages and smaller towns, barely a month ago, it took the intervention of Karachi's inspector general of police to get a case registered regarding the alleged gang-rape of a minor girl. In that case, police initially refused to register the victim's first information report, let alone investigate.

Similar cases over the years have also seen investigations drag on for months and years, cementing the belief that there is a deeply entrenched culture of impunity and the authorities are only making arrests to get through the news cycle. Even in the Jamshoro case, the fact that 11 men can disappear following such a brutal crime suggests either a catastrophic failure of intelligence and policing or a deliberate neglect that borders on complicity.

The only way to guarantee public safety is to ensure that not only criminals, but also those who protect them, are brought to book. Parallel justice systems only guarantee that instead of justice for all, one day there will be justice for none.