Retreat or complicity?

An investigation has found that Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar, the blasphemy suspect in Umerkot, was killed in a fake police encounter. The doctor was reportedly booked by the Umerkot police following the allegations against him and was taken into 'protective custody' by the local police. Later, he was transferred to Mirpurkhas but the next day he was shot dead by Sindhri police. The incident has justifiably attracted widespread outrage and has led to the suspension of the Mirpurkhas DIG, SSP and other police officers. This incident is in line with a disturbing trend of mobs taking the law into their own hands and those meant to stand between the mob and the accused seemingly abandoning all pretensions to duty and taking the side of the former. What happened to Dr Khunbar is not the only recent example of this, with a man facing similar accusations shot dead by a police constable in Quetta on September 12 while he was in police custody. No longer does the state appear to be simply helpless to stop the mob, but some of its officers seem to have outright joined it. In the case of Dr Khunbar, death was not enough to satiate the bloodlust the accusations against him had drawn forth. After his body was handed over to his relatives, it was allegedly snatched and torched by an angry mob.

Retreat and/or complicity – are these really the only two options that the state has to offer citizens facing unverified accusations that can anger a large number of people? One has never really been able to put much stock into rule of law in Pakistan, but the brazen manner in which the state appears to have been subsumed by vigilantism, at least in these recent killings, is particularly alarming. This goes beyond mere surrender. Those appointing themselves judge, jury, and executioner are increasingly able to manipulate those working for the state and turn them against its own rules. How has it all come to this?

While we no doubt suffer from rising intolerance, bigotry and alarming regressive thought, pPart of the answer also lies in the fact that many institutions, especially the police, are not in the greatest shape. Chronically underfunded, under-resourced and poorly trained, the people’s first line of defence against violence looks highly inadequate. It is often unable to protect its own officers from targeted violence, something that may well play on one’s mind if they are charged with protecting a controversial suspect. Then there is the fact that treating the law as though it does not exist has become part of the country’s way of doing things. Indeed, that is often the only way to survive here. This mentality appears to have gotten to a point where many at the top have simply become apathetic about rules and regulations. When it comes to the people, especially those seeking justice, there is little confidence in the state, encouraging people to take the law into their own hands and even make up their own rules. Punishing a few officers will not be enough to address such deep-rooted and pervasive disregard for the law. The state will have to initiate a root, branch, and stem reform of itself and restore the people’s confidence in its ability to deliver justice.