Providing justice

The Supreme Court has now become the first and last avenue of justice in Pakistan. After an enraged mob burned down houses of the Christian community in Joseph Colony in Lahore, it soon became obvious that the police were simply playing the role of an uninterested bystander during the riot and would be similarly lethargic in its aftermath. The provincial government did little beyond offering Rs200,000 per destroyed house, an amount that seemed middling, since it was unaccompanied by any sense of justice that those responsible would be punished for their crimes. Thus it fell to the Supreme Court to take suo-motu action on the matter. In its short order, it said that simply suspending the SHO and the DPO was not enough and wanted action to be taken against those higher up in the chain of command. Ultimately, the Supreme Court said, the IG and the CCPO should be held responsible for failing to take action.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is the only body left that is willing to take on the police. The police itself have never had any appetite for accountability, preferring to take superficial actions to appease the public rather than make a serious attempt at reform. The provincial government is no better since the police are stuffed with the PML-N’s own political appointments. Thus, while getting the Supreme Court involved in every matter of governance is far from ideal and holds dangers of its own, right now, it is the only avenue left for those seeking justice.

Now that the Supreme Court has taken up the case, it needs to go further and dismiss the original blasphemy case which led to the Joseph Colony riot. The case was registered after a drunken argument between two friends. The matter has now been blown out of all proportion with the entirety of the Christian community having to suffer for what is no more than a he-said-she-said case, with absolutely no proof that blasphemy was committed. This case is yet another example of how the blasphemy laws are misused to settle personal scores and harass the beleaguered minority communities in the country. Looking at the root causes of this discrimination rather than just taking action against a few police officials would be a far more fruitful endeavour for the Supreme Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2013.