Daily Times

In the end, the Chief Justice (CJ) had to protest against the injustice. CJ Anwar Zaheer Jamali has taken suo motu on Mustafa Kanju’s smooth exit from the confessed murder of 15-year-old Zain. The Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) acquitted a murderer who had admitted to the crime on the grounds of lack of evidence. This murder took place in a public place, the firing was witnessed by hundreds, the accused was proven drunk and trigger happy, he confessed to the crime, nine witnesses were supposed to confirm the evidence and the Chief Minister (CM) promised justice regardless of connections yet Mustafa Kanju has been set free. This for the only reason that he is the son of Siddique Kanju, a former MNA and minister, and if you are the son of the rich and powerful the media is hushed or diverted, courts are put on the defensive, policemen become your personal bodyguards and witnesses disappear into thin air.

It was not just murder but the way this murder was conducted that speaks of the arrogant extremism in the power brokers of this country. Mustafa, the son of the former minister for foreign affairs, Siddique Kanju, and brother of PML-N MNA Abdul Rehman Kanju, was drunk and became infuriated after his luxury car accidentally hit the vehicle of a woman in Cavalry Ground. His fury was directed at how any other car could dare to be on the roads when the Kanjus were driving around madly. How could his speeding car be impeded by these low-lying ordinary people who needed to be fixed for getting in his way? The car he hit belonged to a woman and when he came out to tell her off, she dashed off sensing he may do more damage. This escape from his fury drove him insane and he started yelling. Hearing the noise people came out of their houses. He opened indiscriminate fire and hit Zain, the only son of his mother, a motorcyclist and Husnain, 18, who came out of the house after hearing the noise. Zain, a class nine student, died on the spot and Husnain was critically injured.

Memories of Shahzeb’s killer, Shahrukh Jatoi, coming out of the van flashing victory signs come rushing back. This victory sign is for winning over justice, law, ethics and morality. This is the sickness prevailing in the social and moral fabric of this society, which has destroyed the power of institutions to prevail over individuals. This power comes from money that buys position that buys influence. This power of influence is so potent that it makes laws and justice impotent. That is why there is an insane race in this country to hold a government, public or political office. If we see the financial compensation associated with these offices, it is pathetic yet they are highly sought after, especially political positions. The reasons are very obvious. These offices give you clout over many institutions, projects and public resources. These offices become a big symbol of status, fear, opulence and manipulation. If you are an MNA or MPA you are the don of your constituency. Your influence pervades the District Commissioner’s (DC’s) office, the police station, courts and public sector project offices. You can influence jobs, contracts, postings and transfers. You can get innocent people convicted and criminal people acquitted. You can be a thief but nobody can catch you. You can be a murderer but nobody can convict you. Even the private sector’s rich and powerful industrialists align themselves to various parties and fund them in return for favours for their industries and their businesses.

To retain this game of influence the system has been designed to perfection by the power brokers. Spend money, buy institutions, script surveys and reports, and suppress evidence and witnesses to become too powerful to be nabbed or caught. The electoral process is instrumental in perpetuating this power hoarding by the elite of the country. Our present electoral system is an example and vehicle to seats of power. Nearly all feudal families, rich industrialists and top bureaucrats compete in this game of buying and influencing votes. The geo-demographic study of voter patterns also shows that the educated class, which is the minority, hardly bothers to vote while the poor and illiterate vote more either because the landlord orders them to or their own family compulsions based on loyalty make them blind to any concept of national interest. Thus, we see this absolutely amazing system of having the most incompetent and corrupt people pass through all election scrutiny, through all codes of conduct and, many times, even when they are not even present in campaigns and have been jailed for crimes, they get miraculously elected. Consider this: Naveed Tahir, who is currently in jail, was elected as councilor from Lahore’s Union Council 124’s Ward number six without even running a campaign. According to details, Tahir fled after snatching Rs 16 lakh from an excise team two months ago, was is in jail and did not even run a campaign. He managed to secure the PML-N ticket and was even elected as councilor after securing 328 votes.

These small time crooks are inspired to adopt this path to success by their mentors who are on even higher positions of power and influence despite committing bigger crimes. A glaring example of this was seen in the recent elections when the law minister, Rana Sanaullah, was alleged a number of times by his own colleagues to be a target killer who has committed 20 killings. A list was also presented to the public in the media. To add ridicule to this bizarre irony, the Inspector General (IG) of police in Punjab instead of investigating defended the minster by saying such statements were immaterial – that maybe due to the fact that his own brother has been blessed with an unopposed seat in these elections. Thus, it is a neat and compact game of power hoarding where top politicians, with the help of top industrialists, top bureaucrats and top institutions create this impenetrable fortress of nourishing each other by ensuring that the lesser masses remain too miserable to ever challenge, contest or break through this elite mafia.

The writer is director communications of the PTI in Punjab, an analyst and a columnist. She can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com