On trial: Disparities between rich and poor apparent at ATCs

Where hardened criminals cower, Shahrukh and his friends stand tall.

The inequality in our society is nowhere as apparent as it is at the Anti Terrorism Courts (ATC).

The accused men are brought from Karachi Central Jail huddled together in a police van. Their fingers are visible on the six-inch-wide iron-grilles as the vehicle rolls into the premises of the ATCs, located near the PIDC intersection. The more dangerous ones are brought in armoured personnel carriers - they are usually target killers, extremist militants and or high-profile prisoners.

Those who have been accused of murder, even the hardened criminals look pleadingly at policemen. In their tattered and mismatched shalwar kameez, even the dons of the criminal world shudder inside courtrooms - some of them are facing charges of multiple murders, bomb blasts and sectarian massacres. This is where the fate of the rest of their lives is decided.



When they are brought in for a hearing, they drag their worn out slippers across the floor, keeping the head down and avoid making eye contact. If they are made to wait for their turn, all they can manage is a whisper to the constable next to them, asking them when their case will come up. Several of them are aware that the ATCs more often than not mean a death sentence.

In a sharp contrast to them, are the four men facing trial in the murder of 20-year-old Shahzeb Khan. Shahrukh Jatoi, Siraj Talpur, Sajjad Talpur and their servant Ghulam Mustafa Lashari are brought in to the courts in a blue armoured personnel carrier.

In their crisply ironed clothes and sparkling shoes, Shahrukh and his friends wait inside the APC when the court adjourns for a break. The other prisoners are locked up in an iron cage built on the back side of the building. While every accused has a right to talk to his lawyer, not many are comforted by theirs with a hug. That is a privilege reserved for these four young men.



On Monday, Shahrukh and the Talpur brothers were served KFC burgers and Nestle fruit juices for lunch just few feet away from where the other accused shared a plate of daal and roti.

Following a request from Shahzeb’s father, DSP Aurangzeb Khan, an ATC judge has barred more than a dozen relatives and friends of Shahrukh from entering the court, since the case has entered the crucial phase where eyewitnesses testify. But only 20 metres beyond the road, they are all standing, waving at Shahrukh, who responds with equal vigour.

With eye witnesses ready to testify and investigators insisting they have all the evidence against these young men, the people at the courts wonder why they have no fear. “They don’t know what’s waiting for them,” responded a lawyer shaking his head. “They don’t know yet.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2013.