Sialkot lynching

LAHORE: I think the incident of killing two brothers in Sialkot is the worst kind of barbarism that we have ever witnessed in our society. No matter how critically we analyse the reasons of this incident, there seems to be no logical reason to the mob’s behaviour. On the other hand, when we talk about the role of police we find that they miserably failed to protect these brothers and became a party to the crime. A police van followed the procession carrying the bodies of these victims and one of the police constables even rode on the tractor which was pulling the trolley carrying these bodies. Is this what the police is paid to do? I am also not surprised that the police let their own friends, including the SHO, escape from custody.

The inspector general of police could not take any initiative when the incident took place and could not even pass orders to arrest the culprits; he could not even ensure the safe custody of those who were arrested on the third day. It took him four days and direct orders from the chief minister to arrest the culprits involved; a time sufficient for anyone to flee the country if they want. If the IG is so naive and needs to tow the line given to him by the chief minister, we are not far away from a sequel to this episode. The fish starts to rot from the head; we need to seriously think of bringing about change from the top.

Syed Masood Haider

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2010.