Five years have passed since the May 12, 2007 carnage took place in Karachi. More than 50 people, mostly political workers, lost their lives in one of the worst incidents in the country’s history, which had been brazenly committed across the metropolis by a large group of saboteurs in broad daylight. Most of the victims had gathered in different parts of the city to go to the airport to receive the then deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry who was to address the bar association and also to participate in the anniversary celebrations of the Sindh High Court. His visit was part of scheduled activities that included protest rallies and demonstrations of the legal fraternity and members of civil society for the restoration of the judiciary. Military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had been facing severe resistance against his unjust decision of sacking the CJP due to their stark differences on some matters of principle. It is extremely condemnable that throughout the May 12 mayhem, personnel of the law enforcement agencies remained silent spectators and indifferent as if they had deliberately been stopped from controlling the worst law and order situation in the city. The day has been a heartbreaking reminder of the tragedy. Families of the deceased, most of whom were workers of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and others whose properties had been severely damaged five years ago are still waiting for justice. They had an expectation from the PPP-led government that justice would be served in its regime. However, their hope has died as the government has miserably failed to meet their expectations. The gory perpetrators of the bloodshed have been roaming around freely, while the incumbent government, thanks to its ‘reconciliation’ policy, is completing the fifth year of its term. Even more fortunate is the situation that the CJP and superior judiciary that had been restored after so much struggle and loss of precious lives has not taken any action against those who are responsible for the May 12 carnage. More than 58 FIRs had been registered. Not a single challan had, however, been submitted in the courts. This year, the lawyers’ community has demanded of the CJP not only to bring the culprits of May 12 to book but also the killers of six lawyers who had been burnt alive in Karachi. Unfortunately, in both these incidents, the finger of suspicion is pointed at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a former coalition partner of General (retd) Musharraf’s government and also an ally of the present government. It was the MQM which, after learning about the scheduled visit of the CJP to Karachi on May 12, had also planned to hold a rally in favour of the dictator and against politicising the CJP’s issue on the same day. Consequently, the chaos occurred as anticipated by many analysts who had already pointed out the likelihood of a bloody clash between the workers of the MQM and supporters of the CJP. Five years have passed but the judiciary has not taken up the cases. It seems that its focus has been diverted, as a backlog of important cases is still lying pending, waiting for its attention, including May 12, which should have been taken up as a matter of priority. It boggles many minds what has been stopping the CJP and the judiciary from taking up this case since so long. *