Daily Times

That law would continue to take its course regardless of what pressures dictated an out-of-court settlement in the infamous Nizam Jokhio case is a heartening development. Sindhi ajraks cannot magically clean the slate, after all!

Now that the legal experts have unanimously kicked the compromise out of the room and waved the red flag, it is the responsibility of the prosecutor general to set the course straight.

Even the semblance of mala fide acts is a great injustice to his prestigious job description. Not delving into technical details, but the frequency with which we

keep landing at the sticky wicket should ring alarm bells for the judiciary as well as the law enforcement agencies.

Where, in the rest of the world, can the law be arm-twisted with such impunity? A respectable citizen of the state was tortured to death.

His crime being the courage to stand up aginst another violation of the law. illegal hunting of houbara bustards.

The state was legally, morally and constitutionally bound to become an official complainant in the wake of the umpteenth rerun of the same old script.

But it chose to become the devil’s advocate in what can only be called a tragic supremacy of feudalism and vested interests, Those claiming the jurisdiction of Alternative Dispute

Resolution Bill or forgiveness laws would do well to remember how these tools have just become rattles for the more powerful to evade paying the price of their wrongdoings.

What magic word can help explain an overwhelming reduction in the murder conviction rate just one decade after Pakistan decided to introduce “settlement” loopholes as a part of its legal reforms?

There’s no telling who the ultra-confident Jam Abdul Karim would choose to target next.

The lust for innocent blood cannot be satiated with only one meal. *