Daily Times

Sir: The local administration has been taking a defensive and parochial attitude since the start of the matter and the interior ministry has shown itself pliant to their version. Then a woman activist Ms Farzana Bari was sent to collect the five women reportedly killed and present them in court. So what is she up to? Why does she have to give statements that she has found two and they are alive and well and that the others, who she still hasn’t found, are alive and well? How can she claim to have identified them? That was not her mandate. Just bring them to court and let justice run its course. Why does the interior minister quickly issue statements as if all is fine? Why are the concerned authorities shilly-shallying? What was everybody doing previously and why were the alleged women working calmly in the fields when the whole nation is looking for them? Is Ms Bari looking for needles in a haystack that she keeps making excuses? The allegation is that five women have been killed and their souls must be crying for justice. To abet a murder is a heinous crime and Ms Farzana, the commissioner, the interior minister and many others should be conscious of sinful collusion. I remember the interior minister and the concerned local administration at that time gave statements defending the Taliban occupation of Swat. It should not take long to produce the women in court, though it appears that the administration has not been able to do that. On the other hand, it might take time to find women who look like the victims and who are willing to claim they are the victims. Who knows what may happen in the present circumstances? Fortunately, today we have DNA tests to confirm if a person is really the sister of the men who have testified, or if she is an impostor.

IMRAN KURESHI

Karachi