Daily Times

Latif Afridi’s murder in Peshawar is a national tragedy. He was a brilliant lawyer, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and prominent human rights campaigner. He was attacked on the premises of the Peshawar High Court Bar. The Supreme Court Bar Association and other legal organisations went on strike and boycotted the courts around the country. Latif Afridi was an outspoken critic of radicalism. He battled his entire life for the supremacy of the constitution, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. After the 1970s, he was imprisoned whenever there was martial law or opposition movements in the country. He was a vocal opponent of previous President Musharraf’s declaration of state of emergency in the country. He was president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association six times and a member of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission. He joined the Pakistan National Party in 1979 and was elected to the National Assembly after the party merged with the Awami National Party. The amount of cases he handled for free for the poor and needy is unprecedented in Pakistani history.

The assassination of the prominent lawyer in court demonstrates that security is not impenetrable. The question is, how did the killer get the weapon to such a sensitive location? Although the death of Latif Afridi was motivated by personal animosity, escalating occurrences of lawlessness, terrorism, and murder in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and elsewhere in the name of personal animosity highlight the country’s frightening state of law and order.

Parts of Pakistan, particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, are chaotic, and the law and order situation is concerning. The trend of taking the law into one’s own hands and killing individuals over animosity demonstrates the public’s lack of fear of the law, as well as the legal system’s failure to deliver justice. The assassination of Latif Afridi is a huge blow to missions like human rights and the rule of law.

The tragedy emphasises the need to treat the culture of enmity seriously; there should be a planned effort to kill off prominent figures like Mr Afridi. Additionally, sensitive locations should have tight security measures in place, and gun culture should be strictly prohibited. Society will soon move on after mourning the passing of the distinguished attorney, but the loss will be felt deeply because of his services to the cause of human rights. Any area of the nation should not allow such incidents. The entire population of Pakistan has suffered greatly as a result of his murder. *