The harrowing lynching of a foreign national in Sialkot last year was expected to go down the same route as quite a many before. Remember the young Mashal Khan or the burned-beyond-recognition Shama and Shahzad? Some rounds of shock, disbelief and outrage, which were to be followed by the usual shrugging of the shoulders, looking the other way and pointing to a fire tearing apart someone else’s backyard. Thankfully, this time the state was not in a mood to let the saga end at authorial tsk-tsking, and the six death sentences are ample proof of the tide finally turning. Call it an after-effect of the widespread attention the sad episode garnered across the globe or the fact that the star-crossed victim happened to be a foreign national, which carried far greater bearing for our crippled economy, the case was finally put to rest. While the dawdling progress by the authorities despite irrefutable video evidence; the deafening silence by the law enforcement agencies and the eventual dismissal of a majority of the 900 original accused are quite a black mark on an otherwise historic judgement, the bereaved can still take some solace in knowing justice has been served. The fact that what should have been a no-questions-asked affair has to be celebrated like a great leap by the judiciary spells all that is wrong with our country. More distressingly, these punishments–however welcoming–cannot be sought as a one-time, knee-jerk solution to wipe the slate clean. Our perpetual molly-coddling of the elements that form the backbone of this mob mentality might not allow us to see the dire need for an overarching narrative against lynchings, blasphemy and anything kicking up the backside of masses to take the law into their hands and twist it however they like. Still, the rest of the world is not wearing a blindfold. It would continue to look down at any and all efforts to advocate human rights because why bother raising a hullabaloo over what goes down in the West when our own house is not in order. From the extremism peddlers to those steering the ship to the Whatsapp brigade that loves to lecture on the errors of our ways, everyone claims they have been preaching how bigotry has no place in a society supposedly run on Islamic injunctions. But do they actually believe that there is no compulsion in religion? *