The fire of revenge

Violence has become pervasive in our society and the easy availability of illegal weapons has compounded the problem.

Revenge is a fire that blinds sanity and, quite often, leads to heart-wrenching brutalities. We witnessed one such gruesome incident on December 29 in Gujranwala. Fourteen people, including four children and four women, were killed when a group of armed men attacked a cluster of houses belonging to their enemies. The gunmen fired indiscriminately on helpless women and children. Later, the attackers set the houses on fire, making sure no one managed to escape. The violence was triggered by two murders earlier in the day, when two relatives of the attackers were killed. The reason was a long-standing feud over land and property. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that such crimes have taken place and it surely won’t be the last. Last year, two brothers were brutally bludgeoned to death in the neighbouring district of Sialkot, after being accused of robbery. The similarity in these two, otherwise unrelated incidents, is the sheer violence and rage that led to the loss of lives. There is a greater need to reflect why such intense hatred and violence has seeped into the depths of our social and political culture.

Indeed, violence has become all too pervasive in our society and the easy availability of illegal weapons has compounded the problem. The state’s authority has waned over the years and police has repeatedly failed to maintain law and order. In this incident as well, police is accused of being a mere bystander while the gunmen went on a rampage. Shahbaz Sharif, the Punjab chief minister, has ordered an immediate inquiry. Few low-ranking police officials have been suspended. But these steps are clearly not enough and can be dismissed as mere cosmetics. Verbal promises and lip service will not suffice. Such inquiries in the past have yielded unsatisfactory results. The need is to make sure that a meaningful inquiry is held this time with conclusive results and effective implementation. Police and other law enforcing agencies have to ensure that no one takes the law into their hands and recourse to law should be followed at all costs.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd,  2012.