Adil Najam
For nearly two days now I have been debating whether to put up this post and, especially, the accompanying photograph. A shiver runs through my body to think about, let alone see, this picture.
But as we have done before (here, here, here, here, here, here) we put up this picture of mob vigilante violence – with the strongest possible advisement for caution by the faint of heart – not because we wish to glorify or fetishize violence but because we want to jolt ourselves, and you, into a realization of just what a horrible, horrifying and horrendous epidemic of violence is spreading through our land.
Recently we had heard of people in Multan reacting to the energy shortage by violently attacking WAPDA offices and officials. Now, one reads of a much more horrifying spectacle of residents in Karachi on May 14 burning alive robbers; two died at the spot and another later in the hospital (details below).
We had called 2007 “A Year of Angst and Anger.” But maybe we live in the age of angst and anger.
(We are purposely putting the picture and story ‘below the fold’ (after the ‘Next Page’ button) so that those who do not wish to read or see this for their own sensibilities can do so.)
A group of incensed residents of the Nishtar Road neighbourhood beat and burnt three robbers so badly on Wednesday that two died on the spot and another died at hospital. The three men (according to some reports there was one more) were caught trying to escape after robbing flat No. 303 of Samia Kalam Building during which its resident Akbar was injured, said DSP Malik Mazar Hussain. There were reports that the men of the area got together to grab the men who were beaten with whatever they could lay their hands on, including sticks and blades. Some type of oil was sprinkled on them and a match was lit.
The police were present but the mob did not agree to hand them over. They said that the police would release them for a bribe or they could easily get bail, so they would tackle matters on their own. They also argued that this incident would teach other criminals a lesson. The incident took place around midday and nearly five to six police mobile units and ambulances reached the scene. An ambulance volunteer claimed that the police was standing there unable to do anything and the other volunteers had to wait for 20 minutes before they could take the injured and dead to hospital. “The robbers were lying in a pile on the road and petrol was poured over them,” he said.
The report in The News gives more texture.
In a shocking incident of vigilante justice, a mob in Karachi on Wednesday burnt three bandits alive near the Timber Market, venting their anger and disgust over the rising crimes.
The gory incident took place when four robbers barged into Akbar Soomro’s apartment on the third floor in the Somiya Mukarram Palace, situated near the Timber Market. The robbers barged into his house at around 1:30 pm and held the children hostage at gunpoint. They cut the telephone line and electricity wires and locked the house from inside and started misbehaving with the women. The bandits looted cash and jewellery. When they were about to flee, the door bell rang. When the bandits opened the door, they found Akbar, the head of the family. They shot and injured him and started fleeing.
Akbar, a seaman by profession, chased the bandits and made a hue and cry. The passers-by and residents of the area caught the three bandits and started beating them, while the fourth escaped. They immediately shifted Akbar to a hospital where he was declared out of danger. In the meantime, 800 to 1,000 people gathered at the scene and started beating the robbers with fists, blows and sticks. Some people brought kerosene and petrol and sprinkled it over the bandits and the mob torched them. Some people resorted to aerial firing and also shot and injured the bandits before they were killed.
A large contingent of police tried to rescue the bandits but the public resisted and pushed the police back. Edhi workers who tried to save the bandits who were aflame were also beaten by the public. After a tough struggle of 20 minutes, the police managed to shift one injured bandit to hospital, while two bandits who were completely burnt died on the spot. The third bandit died in the hospital after struggling for life for two hours.
The residents said they were happy over the incident and praised the persons who had torched these robbers alive. The robbers, they said, looted the area people and had been killing them for just a cell-phone or cash. They added due to this, they had instructed their children not to resist and surrender cell-phones to the robbers. They said what the people achieved was justice because had the bandits been arrested, they would have been granted bail by the courts and would have resumed looting.
Of course, one’s sympathy is with the children and the family that were robbed and held at gunpoint. Of course, one’s sympathy is with Akbar and his valiant attempt to save his family. Of course, one sympathizes with the community and their anger at the police for not being able to stop these robberies. Of course, one wants the robbers to be brought to justice. But, no, one cannot condone or accept the vigilantism and the very violent vigilantism at that. Had the community caught the robbers and then handed them to the police, maybe pressured the police to actually do something, that would have been heroic. There is nothing heroic about burning them alive, doing so on purpose, and expressing pride at doing so. That is only sad – and deeply disturbing.
Let us put this in context. Because horrible as this incident is, the context is more horrifying. And the real is the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of the justification of violence. The justification of violence and of violent means for achieving goals that one considers worthy – and which may well be worthy – is a deeply disturbing phenomenon (we have heard, and probably will again hear hints of this attitude of justification in the comments right here on ATP).
From the vigilantism of the Lal Masjid brigades, to the murder of a woman MNA, to political mayhem in Karachi last year, to political assassinations, to the menace of suicide bombers, and beyond. All of these are signs of people seeking political and social goals – goals that would ordinarily have been sought through political and social means in a stable society – through violent means. These are signs of a divided society that is losing faith in societal processes and taking things into its own hand. These are manifestations of the tearing apart of a people. A tearing apart that is fed by the apathy and an inability to provide essential justice by those who are in power.
What we see here is a sign – and it is not longer a ‘first’ sign, because there have been too many of these signs – of societal angst having reached blow-up proportions. I have believed, and continue to believe, that we are a good people (I think all people are essentially good but circumstances can make them do bad things). Burning people alive – even criminals – is not what good people do.
I understand that living in Pakistan is like living in a pressure cooker; and the pressure can get to the best of us. But if we are indeed to be vigilant – and we must – then let us also be vigilant of our own actions. Let us not let the actions of those who are compelled to do bad things force us to loose our inherent goodness and human decency.
(Also see discussion at Metroblog Karachi, at Pakistan Spectator and at TeethMaestro’s blog).
Another incident of this type happened on Saturday and on my way back home unfortunately i did witness some part of it … that was gross, shocking and the most sad part people actually enjoy doing all this i simply cant forget the excitement on some faces over what was happening … Allah knows better where this country is heading …. i agree that these robbers deserve severe punishments but burning someone is simply out of question … being a muslim we have been taught that even in wars a muslim is not allowed to mutilate the bodies of biggest enemies …… I’m surprised what happened to our government i havent seen a single statement by any of the so called democratic leaders …. no suspension orders no reaction … it seems that they have been so occupied with judiciary and the power game that they dont care what a common citizen is going through …..
i think the provincial government should now wake up and bring the necessary changes in the system so as to control the law n order situation in this part of country and give some relief to already problem stricken citizens
@Pakvestor
thanks for views that make sense
This is a small opinion expresed by an average karachiite.
I feel that the issue is so complex that one must disect the issue into seperate “compartments” (if that can be done). The first issue is whether vigilantism can and should be tolerated in a society. One must realize that justice is an absolute necessity in any society. It is what differentiates a society from the “rule of the jungle”. Is vigilantiism wrong? ABSOLUTELY. Is what “the mob” did wrong? I DON’T THINK SO. Why? because I believe it is the police that is responsible for such actions. It has been the quiet “spectatorship” of the police that has brought the situation to such a desperate leel that an average citizen of Karachi has no other choice but to fight back. And the irony is that now the police is pulling its act together and apprehending “the mob”. Why are they not able to pull their act together to curtail these elements in the first place. You say we should apprehend the culprits and put them behind bars. They simply get out through bribery or bail. Hence, in my opnion whilst vigilantiism is BAD for society, it is not the society that must be blamed but the jusice system, all the elements of the justice system (The police, the lawyers, the judges, etc) that should be held accountable for the degeneration of the society to such a level.
The other compartmentalization that we need to do is whether the sentence that has been passed own on the deceased was actually deserving. Would we have felt better if the deceased were simply beaten to death, or simply beaten severly, or something less unfortunate. Well, as per our own islamic laws, their hands should have ben cut off. Maybe that would have been a better solution. Well, maybe we need to see the punishment in light of the crime. Was their crime, petty theft or was it terrorism. Well for someone, who has been closely associated with an act of crime (as a victim), I can assure you that their acts of petty theft is nothing less than an act of terrorism. What should be the crime for terrorism (even if it is at a much lesser scale than what the term terrorism conjures up in our minds). So was the burning justified. Maybe not. Maybe we should have simply stoned it to death.
As a recent wannabe economist, I enjoy analysing things from a “FREAKONOMICS” perspective. For criminal to stop crime, the negative need to outweigh the positives of the job. The positives are obvious, money. The negatives is a function of the probability of being caught and the punishment (if caught). As both the elements were practically non existent in our justice system, crime flourished. Hence recent turn of events have increased the valu of both the factors. Whether it is justified or not, it does put the message across, THIEVES BEWARE.
Today morning a friend of mine narrated a story that on Sunday when he was passing by that he had to stop to see the crowd being mounted. Actually a few cops were checking motorbikes, a cop forced a motorbike rider, after clearing him from all checking, to get him a cold drink as it was too hot there! The man blew up and started calling names to the cops who then sought pardon from him! Shall we laugh?
Interesting to learn that our peoples have started gaining some sense of civil rights but still it pains to see “AN HUMAN” being burnt! Those who are in favour of it shall be assured that there are thousands reason to justify that horrible action but still crime will remain crime.
Fristly, these robbers should have been handed over to the Police, even if they are to kill then why burning? Could they have not died through bullets or some other means? They even could have been hanged if people were to teach lesson to the other robbers. Regretfully our Islam does not permit this act, it teaches even to care when Animals are slaughtered that they should not feel been slaughtered!
Commenting on this horrifying story as well as the next one on Nehr Waaley Pul Tey … we need to continuously remind ourselves that whether we like it or not, with the passage of time we become the stories that we tell of ourselves and of others. The stories and images we portray about a society tend to, with repetition, influence that society itself. As difficult as it may be, we need to keep reminding ourselves that vigilante justice in Pakistan is not the norm, that the vast majority of people are living lives of mundane pleasures – with stress no doubt – but they cope. Commentators need to be aware of their responsibility (as you obviously are) to shape the story and build positive myths.