Contrasting reactions to murder

Two incidents in Lahore and Katra are unrelated. But they point to an obvious genetic disorder in both nations.

There were two dreadfully depressing stories on May 30 in the local papers, on Sky News and the BBC. The first centered on the bludgeoning to death of a pregnant woman in Lahore by a couple of dozen people that  included her father and brothers. And the second involved the gang rape of two teenage sisters by two policemen in Katra, Uttar Pradesh, who subsequently strangled them and hanged their bodies from a mango tree. The two incidents are totally unrelated. But they point to an obvious genetic disorder in both nations. They also suggest that when it comes to the abuse of women, Pakistanis and Indians are not really all that different and display the same amount of barbarism and Stone Age ferocity.

However, there is a marked difference in the subsequent investigation in the two cases. Dawn stated that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on May 29 ordered ‘immediate action’ over the brutal murder of a pregnant woman named Farzana Iqbal, who was allegedly bludgeoned to death with bricks outside a court in Lahore, while policemen stood by and did nothing. Some helpful soul suggested that the chaps in uniform might have thought they were watching a motion picture being shot. The Muslim League chief added that this crime was totally unacceptable and must be promptly dealt with in accordance with the law. He directed the chief minister of Punjab to take immediate action and submit a report to his office.



A story in The Express Tribune on the same day gives the incident a completely different complexion. “As PM orders action”, the headline pointed out, “police deny woman was stoned”. The report sent to Shahbaz Sharif stated that the crime did not take place near the court house “but several hundred feet away where no policemen were deployed”. It transpired that the victim was killed by her family for marrying the man of her choice. Her husband, Mohammed Iqbal, 45, told The Express Tribune that he had strangled his first wife, a crime that was corroborated by the police, for which he was arrested… but released… because he had paid blood money. I wasn’t able to keep up with the various twists and turns which followed, and so I shifted to the rape case across the border. What I do know is that there was no massive demonstration in Pakistan, no baying for action, no organised protest with male and female students hurling bottles and rotten tomatoes at the police. The Supreme Court took suo-motu notice. There was no statement from any political leader, just a small peaceful display of banners which stated that there is no honour in honour killing. That was it.

The village of Katra in Uttar Pradesh was on the edge. The police sprung into action. They arrested the two policemen, handcuffed a third cop on suspicion of being involved and are hunting for four others who might be involved. The SHO of a police station has also been suspended because he didn’t take any action when he received a complaint that the two girls, aged 14 and 15, had been missing. The girls belonged to the lowest caste and had trekked to the fields because there was no lavatory in their home. The case has sparked public outrage. Hundreds of people spent the night of May 28 in silent protest over alleged police inaction and wouldn’t let the bodies be removed from the tree until the culprits were arrested. If the rapists are convicted they will be given the death penalty as were the culprits in the gruesome death of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in Delhi, last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2014.

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