That a fugitive from justice should receive a hero's funeral - that places us, as a society, in something of a dilemma. Abdul Rehman Baloch alias Rehman Dakait was a dacoit by profession, his professional competence aptly reflected in the fact that he was wanted in more than 80 cases of murder, robbery and rape.
He had escaped the so-called long arm of the law for years, though he was always visible to the eyes of the law enforcers. Once or twice, when he was caught, he didn't take long to get free, possibly courtesy the police. But, as is the ultimate fate of most of criminals, his luck ran out last Saturday. In circumstances variously described as a 'police encounter' and 'custodial killing', he was killed along with his three associates.
His sole legacy is a poverty-stricken Lyari most of whose residents turned out to attend his funeral, not realising that it was his running feud with rival mobsters that deepened their poverty by reducing their locality to a virtually a no-go area. Rehman Dakait was no Robin Hood that he plundered the rich to feed the poor. He was not a social worker either that the people of Lyari looked up to him for help and guidance.
The fact is, that devotion and allegiance to Rehman Dakait stemmed from the fear he instilled in the hearts of people, who were virtually at his mercy in the absence of state protection. He was a sort of a mafia don, who ruled the helpless populace of Lyari while the police looked the other way.
Reports suggest that he had strong political backing also and his friendship was precious to a certain political party whose flags often fly from lampposts in Lyari. One may ask what kind of democracy is this that the political parties have to curry favour with hardened criminals to win elections.
With the elimination of Rehman Dakait from the scene, it is hoped that the residue of his gang and such other outfits, are soon put out of action so that the poor, helpless multitude, inhabiting the ghetto called Lyari, can join the mainstream Karachi metropolis.
Having said that Rehman Dakait was a curse removed from the scene by accident or design whatever, we would insist on urgent and stepped-up efforts, by the concerned authorities, to relieve the unfortunate people of Lyari from their forced isolation. They came in droves to pay homage to a dead gangster that is the degree of their helplessness. Immediate action is warranted, on many fronts, to rescue the residents of Lyari.
Gangs and gangsters, who virtually hold in bondage hundreds of thousands of residents of this and quite a few other localities of Karachi, have to go. The government must step forward and enforce its writ, putting up a substantial presence of the police force and other departments. This presence has to be on a permanent basis, as against the occasional posting of Rangers to meet emergencies. Then the people must get justice, social, political and economic, as their right as equal citizens and not as a matter of courtesy or appeasement to a small group of the local leadership.
At the same time, the provincial government is expected to initiate an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the killing of Rehman Dakait and his three associates. The police version of an encounter leading to the killings is too dubious to be acceptable, especially to families and friends of the victims. No civilised society can allow such killings, much less in a situation where the victim is a hero to a particular section of society. No right-minded person can condone the doings of Rehman Dakait, but he would also not like to remain indifferent to a killing, if it is custodial.
It is no secret that some police officials involved in the alleged police encounter nursed feelings of a grudge against Rehman Dakait, and the possibility of their involvement in cold-blooded murder cannot be ruled out. Undoubtedly, Lyari is a case in point of institutional failure, but here in this incident lies an opportunity to revive its residents' confidence in the government by holding an impartial inquiry. Yes, a murderer must be hanged, but only after he is declared guilty by a court of law.