Daily Times

The time to condemn the lawyer community’s madness in Lahore on Wednesday is already past. And the government will now be judged for how swiftly it makes the lawyers responsible face the full force of the law. Already its reputation about ensuring justice, when criminals are backed by strong institutions, is not much to write home about. Perhaps this tragedy is a good moment for some manner of redemption.

That is not all. Along with everybody responsible for all the carnage at PIC (Punjab Institute of Cardiology) the government must also, owing to the burden of responsibility, answer for all the lives lost. There is even a report of a 22-year old girl, a mother of one, dying after the mob stormed into the emergency room, trashed the equipment, and one of them removed her oxygen mask. The final number of dead was not ascertained at the time of writing.

That the lawyer community has degenerated into an out-of-control, law-breaking bunch of gangs is no longer breaking news. And while this particular phenomenon might have been one of the many unintended consequences of the famous 2007 lawyers movement, there’s still no denying that the judiciary has long been one of the most unruly and corrupt institutions in the country.

The importance of what follows cannot possibly be exaggerated. That is because the many crimes committed during the rioting will have far more than just legal implications. PTI ministers did the right thing by trying to diffuse the situation, even if it led to the ugly attack on the information minister. Still, he should not have tried to squeeze political mileage from the incident by accusing PML-N lawyers of trying to kidnap him. Even if his hunch was true, he should have waited for the formal investigation.

The police force, sadly, was late to respond as usual. Perhaps they are still shell-shocked from the fallout of the Model Town tragedy. Or perhaps they, too, have still not shed their incompetence. Hopefully they will do better in the investigation. But it seems everybody – federal and Punjab governments, civil society, and not the least the black coats – have their work cut out for them. Hospitals are spared even in the most savage wars. If a segment of our society had the audacity to attack one of the city’s most sensitive hospitals, and considered its actions justified, then indeed a very strong example needs to be made of them. Once more, sadly, our legal fraternity has embarrassed itself. *