Bad boys, rotten families

Mustafa Kanju, the son of a powerful political family of Punjab, opened fire a few days back on a busy Lahore street after his car collided with another and he and his guards got into a scuffle with the driver of the other car. Mustafa’s firing killed a 17-year-old passerby, Zain, the only brother of two sisters. This was a double tragedy as Zain’s father had recently passed away.

The young Kanju initially fled the scene and it was only after the Punjab CM personally intervened that the police swung into action. When arrested, initially Mustafa denied he had fired but when confronted by forensic evidence he claimed that he had “accidently” fired “some” shots. We have the media to thank for getting the attention of chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. Otherwise, the case would have been buried.

In his story, our Lahore crime reporter Hasan Naqvi recalled how in October, 2014, the guards of the son of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani shot dead a young man for crossing their motorcade. Abdul Qadir Gilani was charged with murder only after the media highlighted the issue and yet again the Punjab CM intervened. But not much else has happened. The case seems to have been buried.

Unlike Punjab, Sindh does not even have such a CM to intervene. In Karachi, at the time the Kanju incident took place, our indefatigable court reporter Naeem Sahoutra reported that those convicted of murdering teenage boy Shahzeb Khan may be able to walk away from the gallows if the court accepts the compromise reached between the victim’s family and the convicts. In other words, they can buy their way out.

So far, the court has declared that the much-criticised compromise is genuine. This is a first step to the reprieve of the murderers. It may be recalled that in June 2013, the same court had awarded capital punishment to Shahrukh, the son of business tycoon Sikandar Jatoi, and his friend Siraj, for killing the 20-year-old son of DSP Aurangzeb Khan on December 25, 2012. Their accomplices, Sajjad (Siraj’s younger brother) and Lashari (Talpurs’ servant) were given life imprisonment.

The then chief justice of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the killing and pursued the case after the media highlighted it. This led to Shahrukh’s arrest from the United Arab Emirates. One may recall that it was a staffer of Bilawal House who had facilitated the escape of Shahrukh.

Examples are aplenty. Who can forget the case of Sulaiman Lashari, an O-level student, shot dead last year by Salman Abro and his guards. The attackers were policemen accompanying the son of the SSP of the Sakrand Police Training Centre.  One wonders why so many policemen were at the disposal of the son of a middle-ranking police official in the first place. And why were they attacking the house of a private citizen without any justification. The two boys had earlier had an argument. Salman Abro entered the Lashari residence to settle scores, according to the statement given by Lashari’s father.

The city police chief promised an inquiry and exemplary punishment. Nothing happened. No action was taken against the SSP who let his guards accompany his son on a killing spree nor against the police officials who participated in this expedition.

More examples of official connivance include the killing of 17-year-old Hamza Ahmed, shot dead allegedly by the guard of a fellow-student, Shoaib.  It was an argument over a girlfriend. In the final showdown which took place outside a restaurant, Hamza was accompanied by two friends and Shoaib arrived with a friend and his guard.

Initially the boys were talking calmly but soon after, things got heated. Hamza slapped Shoaib first after which the latter told his guard to kill him. The guard reportedly used his 9mm pistol to shoot Hamza four times, killing him on the spot. Eventually Shoaib was arrested but the guard remains at large. Has the guard disappeared off the face of the earth? What action has been taken by the security company that employed such a person? Nothing.

When will this stop? When will our elite stop killing at will and when will justice take its normal course. Why is our system so rotten that unless a CM intervenes, nothing happens. And even then the murderers walk away free.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th,  2015.

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