Daily Times

Sir: Former Governor of West Pakistan, Nawab of Kalabagh resorted to selective custodial killings of known dacoits and criminals involved in heinous crimes, to serve as deterrence and strike fear.

Vigilantes justify extra judicial killings on the assumption that government funded law enforcement and judicial system is ineffective to enforce rule of law and protect the lives and honor of citizens. The edifice of a modern State is built on trust, love and mutual respect of citizens and state institutions and not through threats. As Hazrat Ali (AS) once said, a state cannot exist without justice.

Vigilantism can be dated back to the Biblical account in Genesis 34, when Dinah, daughter of Jacob, was abducted and raped by tyrannical sons of the ruler of Shechem, and her brothers avenged this act to rescue her. Extra judicial killings were used to strike fear by the British, French and Dutch colonists to perpetuate their occupation and rob colonies of their riches and minerals. However independent sovereign states like Pakistan, with self rule through democratically elected representatives and a well discipline uniformed security service with functional judiciary and law enforcement, must never resort to extra judicial killings, whatever the provocation.

Unfortunately this practice does continue in Pakistan and we have witnessed the manner in which Rao Anwar, a serving police officer, was accused of allegedly being involved in killing of Naqeelullah Mehsud in Karachi. History has proven that extra judicial killings, enforced missing persons etc never serve to deter crime, nor does it establish writ of law. It does however create anger and desperation amongst next of kin of those who are killed, because of susceptibility of those involved in such vigilante acts, adopting it as a cover to kill innocent persons for money etc.

ALI MALIK TARIQ

Lahore

Published in Daily Times, August 5^th 2018.