Shahrukh Jatoi outside the court premises. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS
The three major political parties in the city - the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement - have welcomed the anti-terrorism verdict in the Shahzeb Khan murder case. The PPP feels, however, that the case should have gone to the sessions court instead of the anti-terrorism one.
PPP secretary general Taj Haider said that this issue is not an isolated case, but it in fact reflects the condition of the new generation. “All of this will be lost if we fail to learn a lesson,” he said. “An important factor to focus on here is where we are leading this new generation.”
Haider was saddened to see the attitude that the convict and his family displayed. “As soon as the verdict was announced, the behaviour exhibited by Shahrukh and his family was as if they had won some battle.” Our social condition has deteriorated to such an extent that we do not shy away from taking lives just for our personal ego, said Haider.
On the legal proceedings, Haider felt that the anti-terrorism courts were not even designed to take up such a case. “This was plainly a homicide and should have been treated accordingly at the session courts,” he said.
Expressing his satisfaction with the court’s verdict, PTI leader Dr Arif Alvi hoped that the decision will serve as the model based on which the people of Karachi will able be to get justice against all the wrongs and injustices meted out to them.
“The case was made high-profile by us political parties, followed by the media,” he pointed out. “The issues of Karachi are not only because of this feudal mind-set. There are target-killers and terrorists who roam freely with complete impunity while thousands of their victims await justice.”Expressing his sympathies with Shahzeb’s family, MQM coordination committee member Wasay Jalil said that his party fully supported the ATC verdict. “This decision has showed that those with a feudal mindset, who show off their power and strength, should not consider themselves as gods,” he said. “The power and money that they have acquired can be snatched from them at any moment.”
Changing values
Haider put the blame of this case on the changing values in our society. Once the late Mahmood Ali, radio and television artist, broke a windowpane of a neighbour’s house while he was playing cricket, Haider recalled. Ali’s father took him to the house owner and asked him to plead for an apology. He later told his son: “My head goes down involuntarily whenever I pass by the neighbour’s house, thinking about what you did to them.”
For Haider, such values led to a society in which people helped each other. “My grievances are not with this youth but with the system that creates such disillusioned minds,” he added. “The more I think over it, the more I come to this conclusion that we have turned into a nation of ‘tamashbeen’ [spectators] and the media has played an important role in that.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2013.
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PPP will twist this case to blame everyone else but themselves. Manners are learn from Adults, like Father will teach their Sons, and Mother teaching their Daughter. Jatoi and Talpur family did not teach their kids respect for human life because elder in the family are as selfish as kids.