Have We Gone Mad? (Reader discretion advised)

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?