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Voice of People
Why mob justice trend?
Fariha Arshad
A group of incensed residents of Karachi beat and burnt three
robbers so badly on May 14 that two died on the spot and another
died at the hospital. The three men were caught trying to escape
after robbing a flat in a nearby building. The men of the area got
together to grab the robbers who were beaten with whatever they
could lay their hands on, including sticks and blades. Some type of
oil was sprinkled on them and the residents tried to burn the
robbers. Although police personnel were present, the mob did not
agree to hand them over, stating that the police would release them
for a bribe. There are two aspects to this disturbing incident that
we must think about: firstly, why this trend of mob justice is
emerging, and secondly, if it is justified in our context. Are such
vigilantes justified? They are theoretically acting outside the law,
in fact breaking the law by punishing the perpetrators of crime.
Some would argue that one has the right to defend oneself. However,
there’s a difference between self-defence and meting out justice
extra-legally. Then comes the important task of assessing why it is
happening in the first place.
Any frustrated society will always resort to mob justice when the
arm of the law is hopelessly short. Kenya is a prime case in point,
where such a practice is widely prevalent, even in Nairobi. And if
it is allowed to continue unabated, it results in the majority
punishing and discriminating against anyone it deems deviant and
committing barbaric acts in the name of justice. Mob justice is a
response to government failure, and even though it is not
acceptable, it is an indicator of the government’s malfunctioning
more than anything else.
—Lahore
Unethical stance
Maryam Habib
The PPP spokespersons are a source of disgust for party’s diehard
loyalists since the former try to staunchly defend the party’s
deceptive, unprincipled and vacillating stand on the judicial issue
just to appease the presidency. Why did the PPP pretend that its
leadership was not in the know of the by-elections’ postponement
even we know that the move was aimed at keeping the PML-N top two
leaders away from the assemblies.
Also, before that the PPP prorogued the National Assembly session to
delay a proposed resolution on the judges’ reinstatement. The new
PPP leadership is reconciling with the MQM, the president and the
reportedly with the forward bloc of the PML-Q, but is unwilling to
extend an olive branch to the lawyers’ community and the sacked
judges despite the fact they have stood their ground on principles.
—Mirpurkhas
Judges’ reinstatement
Syed Iqbal Ahmad
Asif Ali Zardari, PPP co-chairman, recently said “reinstatement of
judges was not the focus of his election campaign” and that “we were
not given a mandate for restoration of judges. People voted for us
to save Pakistan and to change the system”.
The people of this country may ask Mr Zardari a simple question: if
the restoration of the deposed judges was not in the agenda of the
PPP’s election campaign, why the PPP leaders and workers used to
join the lawyers and leaders and workers of other political parties
and also used to be part of processions when the chief justice used
to go to address different bar associations.
Now coming to the PPP’s belief in an independent judiciary and not
in individuals (i.e. judges) it is manifestly vague and meaningless.
I need not emphasise that the pre-requisites for an independent
judiciary are the competent, credible and independent judges. There
is a time-tested principle that it is not a particular system or
institution, which is important and significant but the human
elements behind the running of that system or the institution. What
could be a better example than that of the deposed chief justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who laid down the basic foundation of an
independent judiciary by saying ‘no’, for the first time in the 60
years’ history of the judiciary, to a military dictator on March 9
last year. This was yet followed by another shinning example, when
the same military dictator struck the judiciary again on Nov 3 last
year, packing the entire judiciary in a military coup but Justice
Iftikhar Chaudhary and over 60 other judges of superior courts again
stood like a wall and demonstrated to the nation the supremacy of
the Constitution and the oath taken by them to keep the Constitution
supreme. Those few judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, who,
in violation of their oath under the Constitution, took the fresh
oath of office under the PCO were, of course, rewarded but with
humiliation, for declaring the usurper president in sheer violation
of the Constitution.
The judges’ issue has been made complicated by the PPP’s top
leadership, notwithstanding the Murree declaration. The issue,
unfortunately, remained confined only between the top PPP and PML
(N) leadership. The lawyers’ stand and that of the PML(N) and its
leader, Nawaz Sharif, on the judges’ issue are, no doubt, clear and
positive but the PPP’s tactics are not understandable, particularly
in view of the heavy mandate received from the people.
Why are they doing so? Because they are (a) equally allergic to the
rule of law and independent judiciary and (b) are bound by
pre-election deals to serve the system (presently being led by
Pervez Musharraf), which has cleared skyhigh heaps of their past
corruption under the National Reconstruction Ordinance and has given
them the licence to do much more in the future.
—Karachi
Rich rulers
Murad Ali
On the one hand, there are luxuries of the ruling class and on the
other millions of people live below the poverty line and are unable
feed themselves. In the prevailing socio-economic conditions, the
word Pakistan stands for: P for poverty, A for anarchy, K for
killings, I for injustice, S for starvation, T for tyranny and N for
nothing.
—New Zealand
Surging inflation
Ahsan Umar
There is a need for bringing major structural changes in the economy
to protect the common man from resurgent inflation. Though domestic
price hike is linked to the soaring price of crude oil in the global
market, some way-out has to be found to counter inflation. The
latest increase in domestic oil and petroleum prices was the fourth
time after a caretaker government was installed in March.
It is worth mentioning that consumer price index (CPI) for the month
of March rose by 14.12 which was the highest CPI the country has
witnessed in the last 13 years. The government should come up with a
short-term relief strategy for the common man, besides a long-term
policy to cope with the pressing challenges facing the economy.
There should be subsidies on domestic oil prices to provide relief
to the masses.
—Karachi
Power crisis
Qazi Bashir Ahmed
The power austerity measures announced by the federal government:
Sunday as an open business day instead of Friday, saving power in
public buildings by using energy savers and turning on
airconditioning after 11 o’clock in the morning, using alternate
poles of streetlights and closing commercial centres and shops at
9pm are well timed. However, these measures, which are applicable
with effect from June 1 and will continue for three months, are not
sufficient to improve power distribution to a larger extent but at
least will reduce some miseries of the people a little during these
inclement hot days. The first reaction to these tough measures
announced by the minister of water and power came from the business
community. They have opposed the decision of closing their shops and
market at 9 o’clock and threatened the government that in case this
measure is not dropped forthwith, they will proceed on indefinite
agitation.
The reaction of the business community is highly reprehensible and
anti-state to say the least. They probably do not realise that under
the circumstances when not a single kilowatt of electricity has been
worked on in the system by the previous regime, how can the demand,
which has increased manifold during the last years, be met? Thus
unless new power plants are installed and generation capacity
enhanced, which may take four to five years, every Pakistani has to
share the burden, be that a businessman, a bureaucrat or an ordinary
citizen of the country. It is, therefore, time the businessmen
demonstrated some responsibility towards the country. They should be
prepared to sacrifice for the great public cause.I hope that the
business community will understand the enormity of the situation and
extend full cooperation in implementing this decision by finishing
their businesses at 9pm sharp. They have, however, an open option to
start their commercial activities at 10 o’clock in the morning when
the power consumption is at the least and the timing most feasible
for the common man to shop, temperature being substantially low.
This is now a great challenge for the government to persuade people
and see that its decision is not violated but implemented in letter
and in sprit.
—Hala, Sindh
