Adil Najam
This graphic video of the brutal murder of 19 year of Sarfraz Shah being confronted and shot dead by Rangers – supposedly because he was a robber refusing to surrender – is only the latest in a string of state and societal resort to violence that makes one wonder if we have gone totally mad: Lynchings in Sialkot, disappearances and killings in Balochistan, shaming of protesters in Rawalpindi, vigilante justice in Karachi, shootings over load-shedding in Multan, bombings of shrines in Lahore, slaying of a woman Minister in Gujranwala, slaughter of a Christian Minister in Islamabad, and a culture of anger and a validation of violence everywhere, including and most horrendously by those who are supposed to be the custodians of our safety and security.
We are including the graphic video of the brutal murder of Sarfraz Shah, but after the ‘fold’. Reader discretion is required. But if you can bear to watch it, then do so. Because it is well past time that we stop ignoring the rot that threatens our every pore.
What can one do except hold ones head in shame and sadness, and ask oneself: Have we gone totally mad?
Despite the anger and angst that swells within each vein, I would like to believe that we have not. I still believe in Pakistan and Pakistanis. Maybe I do so because I have no option but to believe so. But more than that I do so because I know that even though the insanity is all around me, there is even more disgust and dismay at this insanity. But it is no longer enough to show disgust and dismay. We must speak up – as so many actually are. And that is because I believe that we still have it within ourselves to rise against and reject this violence. If we do not, then who will?
@Mazhar Fakhar: “Anyhow, it is very easy for you to type all of this and tell me that I am wrong to try to preserve my own life. ”
–Nobody said you are wrong to try to preserve your own life. That’s perfectly acceptable. Nobody is asking you personally to go and be a hero or something like that. But at least have the decency to call a murder a murder, and not find justifications for it. Just like you can call westerners out for their murders you should do with your own soldiers. Not to their face, not when your life is in danger, but at least here, o the forum, where you are safe. If you honestly think it was wrong.
*”real time threat tests the metal of a person”
@ Mazhar
it is true that a real time threats a real metal of a person
But don’t you think you are painting a very pathetic picture of humanity by saying no one will stand up for justice if one’s own life is in threat?
You mean there are not people who will take the bullet but will not side with brutality and justice.
Also, be careful. when you remind others of their bloody history please take a minute and peep in your own collar.
There is no nation on the face of this earth that can stand on a high pedestal and absolve itself of gross violations and atrocities against human kind.
Yes in USA and west in general everything happens….yes you can argue their democarcy ends at their own doors….but you have to agree that by and large they are AT LEAST sincere with their own people. by and large they provide justice to people inside their own national boundaries.
yes a cop might use undue force in USA. but then he cant escape the justice system. They might have equally bad people but they have STRONG institutions.
Also, in my experience in west people stand up for values. If something is going wrong in usa there are always people who will say its wrong and raise voice against it. These people are more civilized then we are. If this video was abot some cop in USA. trust me by now he will be behind the bars. what happened in Pakistan? are these rangers under arrest?
There is no law and order in Pakistan. people’s values are deteriorating everyday under the pretext that they are afraid and thus there should be no excuse if like weasles or vultures we feed on each others flesh. Only we can do something about it. blaming usa for its history will not fix our house.
@Petrini
Yes. Very easy for you to type all of this. I know your country’s history and how your ancestors barbarically massacred the Native Americans, brought in Africans as slaves by the shiploads, and how your elites had your citizens fight with each other, and are now making them fight in other countries. Anyhow, it is very easy for you to type all of this and tell me that I am wrong to try to preserve my own life. It would be interesting to see what you would actually do if you were in this situation, when your life was at stake and in danger every single minute of your life. Whether you would be a dog risking to get shot by taking a more active role in remedying the situation or be the sheep and save your own ass from being killed.
“I have to prepare my mind and keep telling myself “the Rangers are right, the Rangers are right,”
–WOW, you are incredible! You are every military dictator’s dream! With citizens like you, staging military coups should really be a piece of cake.
Those rangers are human beings just like you, they are not perfect and the CAN be wrong, and WERE VERY WRONG in this particular case. But as long as you guys are only concerned with how not to piss off the trigger-happy soldier and don’t even bother to think about how to make your police/army more accountable to CIVILIANS (who, by the way, pay for their damn salaries), shit like this will continue to happen.
“You cannot understand this rationalization process because you are sitting in the safety of your civilized country”
–Yes, and for that I am grateful to the many people before me who fought so that we can have civil rights and liberties, a Constitution that upholds the right of every citizen to have a fair trial, and all that good stuff… Or perhaps you thought our societies were somehow miraculously endowed with all the liberties they now grant? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but it was a lot of work and in many respects there still is a lot of work to do even here. But it would have never happened if not for some men who, long ago, decided to stand up and say: the rangers are NOT right, the people in power are NOT right when they dispose of people’s lives as if they are cattle. This is NEVER right, regardless of circumstances! I’m really thankful they didn’t use your rationalization process.
“This is why I have to figure out what the boy did wrong, so as to not repeat the same mistakes and end up bleeding to death, this time with no one making a video of me or anyone ever finding out about it.”
I’m sure there must have been another sentence there were you said you all had to figure out what the rangers did wrong, and what you all need to do so that the rangers never repeat that mistake. I’m sure it got lost in the posting process somehow.