SPOTLIGHT: Our leaders' own "Midas" touch turns everything to dust!: Neither the first murder of its kind nor likely to be the last!

Corrupt, uncaring leaders, clueless cronies on sensitive posts, Judiciary stalled, Army under pressure, Parliament twiddling thumbs, economy mismanaged and on dole, starvation galore. Our elected leaders have a "Midas" touch of a special kind: whatever they touch turns to stinking dust!
Be it justice, education, welfare, health, security, unemployment, provision of necessities of life like the much heralded, Roti Kapra aur Makan, war against terror, foreign relations - you name it! Where do we go from here?
Murder most foul!
It was neither the first murder by law enforcers nor will it be the last, the way things are in this country. The reason reportedly given by Rangers was that the young man, Sarfaraz Shah, just 17, slim of body, was involved in a robbery attempt and what followed was the result of an armed encounter of Rangers with him. The remarkable footage showing in gruesome detail what actually happened is an irrefutable testimony to the fact that the encounter theory was a shameful lie. According to another version the murdered young man had gone to a nearby park that evening when the ever-present load shedding made his home dark and hot and in the park he got into a quarrel with some "high-ups" and the result was what followed. Whatever the truth of the matter, the young man was under the full physical control of half a dozen strong men of the Rangers force who had no difficulty tossing the slim young man about like children throwing a ball around. So there could be no reason (danger to their life, for example) for the uniformed men, for shooting him down like a hunted animal and coolly watching him die.
Rangers to the rescue!
Targeted killings in Karachi had become so common that except for "taken notice" monotone nothing ever happened. The "supreme" need to keep political alliances intact meant that killers should not be caught in the first place and if caught, should be set free without retribution by simply not following up on cases and letting them go free by default, free again to kill more. Rangers were brought in, in the expectation that being relatively free from political influence they would be more effective in checking the targeted killing menace. The shocking happening on Wednesday night shattered that weak dream most decisively.
Just who ordered the killing and why?
The determination with which the 5 or 6 Rangers men and the man in plain clothes, who propelled the lightly built young man towards them with a smart kick in the butt makes the viewer conclude that they were under someone's orders or some compulsion to kill the boy. The most crucial fact any investigating team should discover is just whose order the rangers were obeying. The footage showed the Rangers acting in unison, not one of them appeared to be making a move to stop what was happening. Why were the Rangers present so worked up against the young man, why so uncontrollably bent on shooting him and ensuring that he died while they continued to watch him writhe in pain in the final throes of death? It is quite obvious that the Rangers group wanted to kill the boy at all costs. Why and at whose behest? We can just hope that the true answer will come to light soon.
Killed in encounter!
We hear this mantra quite often in our country. There is good reason to believe that at least in some of these cases, the law enforcers take the law into their hands when they despair of getting a criminal (of whose crime they are convinced) convicted and punished through the due process of a trial in the courts of law (which have weaknesses of their own) and find it more "practical" to stage an "encounter" and to administer "justice" themselves! What made all the difference this time was the timely "footage" shot by some people standing by watching the gruesome drama unfolding before their very eyes which raises other questions. Was their presence at the site of the murder just a coincidence?
A personal anecdote
I have a personal experience to recount in this connection. It happened a couple of decades ago but the event is still fresh in my mind. It was the fasting month of Ramazan. I drove my car as usual to a mosque at some distance from my house for performing the Taraveeh prayer. The road on which the mosque was situated was a blind alley. As I turned into the road I had a vague feeling that another car had been following me for some distance but thought nothing of the common occurrence. But, sure enough, as soon as I stopped at the mosque entrance and opened the door of the car (I was alone in it), a young man with three or four others (who had obviously alighted from the car that was following mine) with guns in hand accosted me and the one in front politely asked me to hand over the car keys to him which, under the circumstances, I promptly did. In seconds the "party" divided itself into two and commandeering the two cars sped away taking the (only possible) U-turn.
The first Thana visit
A gentleman who had just arrived at the Mosque asked me what was happening. "Robbery" I replied and he lost no time in jumping through the mosque entrance and disappearing inside. Another Namazi appeared riding a motorbike. I requested him to drop me at a close-by Police Station and he obliged, Allah bless him! The SHO took my statement in a few minutes and for now, I thought, that was that. A replacement car was promptly provided by my employers and I was none the worse for the experience except that for days after any car following close behind brought forth anxious thoughts. Some days later I received a call from the same Police Station and was given good news about the recovery of my car and would I please come to the Police Station where no less than a DIG was present for the occasion.
The second Thana visit
As I entered the police station I found the press people were present, cameras flashing, and the DIG was recounting the success story in the recovery of my car. It seems the gang which took my car committed a robbery in a bank in Hyderabad and used the car they had snatched from me as the getaway car for escape to Karachi. As revealed by the Police Officer the culprit was apprehended as he reached Sohrab Goth and in the "fierce combat that ensued", the police, at considerable risk to their own life shot the robber dead in "self defence". The car seemed to be still in good order although the windshield and the back glass had been both smashed into pieces. However, later, through another source I got a totally different account of what purportedly happened. According to this second version the Police got information that the main culprit was in Karachi and was sitting at the moment in the NED University grounds in the very same car he had deprived me of. The police reached the spot and shot the robber from behind the car, the bullets ripping through the front and rear glass shields of the car and killing the robber instantly. It seems, as the source disclosed, the culprit was a much-wanted dacoit and his father was an advocate who got him extricated, time and again, from cases and punishment through means fair and foul. Exasperated, the police then took the "short-cut" described in this second version of what happened.
One event, two versions, the oft-repeated story
That is the kind of story one often hears. Failing repeatedly to bring known culprits to book, the police sometimes (or often or usually or frequently, take your choice) resort to killing them in make-believe armed combats. The question one might ask is at what level, if at all these extra-judicial killings are authorised. In the case now receiving universal national attention, the five or six Constables of the Rangers force appeared to be very clear in their mind about what they were going to do. Several questions go begging plausible answers. Who was the man who brought the victim into view and kicked him towards the waiting Rangers. Why were the rangers there in the first place? How come a professional photographer happened to be on the scene and was able to record unhindered the brutal scene in such graphic detail as to cause a national furor?
Judiciary's swift suo motu move
0The CJ lost no time in taking suo motu notice of the horrific incident and the lies that were initially floated. Characteristically the CJP on 10 Jun 11, ordered the removal within three days of DG Sindh Rangers and IGP Sindh. And equally characteristically the Governments in Sindh and Islamabad started dragging their feet in respect of the Court order. DIG Karachi (West) was ordered by the CJP to conduct a detailed inquiry. This is already in progress and a total of 5 Constables involved were arrested. A full Supreme Court Bench was constituted to hear the case on a daily basis. In the meantime Rangers have become the center of unwelcome attention by the general public, by politicians, by the Sindh Government, by the Media and so on. I hope a sense of proportion will be maintained in the matter instead of getting carried away by righteous anger. Army-bashing by implication must not be overdone. All must wait patiently for the outcome of the Suo Motu action by the CJP. But how can I or anyone else have the heart to ask the mother of the slain youngster to be patient?
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