When Mobs Replace the Rule of Law
Shah Zaman Bhangar
Karachi: In 2010, a horrifying incident took place in the city of Sialkot, Punjab. An enraged mob publicly lynched and brutally murdered two young brothers, Mughees and Muneeb Butt, under the false accusation of being robbers.
The two brothers repeatedly pleaded and begged, crying out that they were not robbers and asking to be heard, but no one took pity on their agonizing plights. Even the police sided with the mob. Anyone who could lay their hands on anything harming them, kept striking them, while numerous people casually recorded videos on their mobile phones.
Ultimately, two innocent human beings were brutally murdered by a merciless mob.
When the investigation confirmed that Muneeb and Mughees were not criminals but students, a massive public outcry erupted. From the media and the government to the courts, echoes of this case were heard everywhere. A case was registered against 28 suspects.
Following expedited hearings, the court, relying heavily on video evidence, sentenced 22 accused. Among them, 7 were awarded the death penalty, 6 were given life imprisonment, and 9 police officers present in the mob were sentenced to 3 years in prison for negligence of duty. Later, in 2019, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentences of the 7 convicts to 10 years of imprisonment.
This case also received extensive coverage in the international media. The domestic media not only provided minute-by-minute coverage of the incident but also spent hours debating it on talk shows.
A Routine of Lawlessness
In stark contrast to Sialkot, Karachi, the country’s largest city and economic hub has witnessed a series of similar incidents one after another. Incidents of capturing and torturing alleged robbers during mobile phone or motorcycle snatchings, or robberies at shops and houses, have been consistently reported in areas like New Karachi, Sohrab Goth, North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad (Lalu Khet), Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Malir, Landhi, Korangi, Orangi, Baldia, Lyari, and other localities.
Read More: https://thepenpk.com/the-normalisation-of-police-encounters-in-punjab/
When reporting on such incidents, the mainstream media’s news delivery resembles a judicial verdict itself, often stating:
”Citizens caught robbers red-handed, gave them a severe beating, and handed them over to the police… One robber died due to torture by unidentified individuals.”
In other words, these television channels pass a verdict that the captured individuals were indeed robbers and that they were caught in the act. The mob, which is hailed as “citizens” up until the beating, suddenly becomes “unidentified individuals” the moment a murder takes place.
The Tragedy of Machhar Colony
While this toxic culture of mob justice under the pretext of vigilantism continued, another horrifying incident occurred on January 11, 2023, in the Machhar Colony area of Karachi. A PTCL engineer, Muhammad Ayoub, and a technician, Muhammad Aslam, arrived in the area to repair the telephone network when a mob suddenly assaulted them.
It is reported that announcements were even made from a local mosque’s loudspeaker claiming that child lifters and robbers had been caught. Triggered by these announcements, the neighborhood gathered and brutally beat both men to death.
Since the PTCL authorities took ownership of their employees, the police, in an attempt to save face, registered cases under anti-terrorism clauses.
Based on video clips and CCTV footage, more than 20 suspects, including Zeeshan, Bilal, Usman, Naim, Arif, Sajid, and Shoaib, were identified. However, due to the sluggishness of the prosecution, many arrested suspects managed to secure their release, while only a few individuals were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 to 15 years.
It is not that incidents of mob justice stopped after this tragedy. Even after this, similar events continued to occur, and the police, as well as government authorities, seemingly accepted that those killed were robbers, thereby tacitly validating the sentences handed down by street courts of the common public.
The Failure of Media
The role of the media has been deeply negative because no follow-up is ever given to these incidents, nor is any voice given to the families of those murdered under the label of “robbers.”
During the Sialkot incident, the media constantly raised questions that the government failed to protect the lives and property of citizens under Article 9 of the Constitution, and that both youths were deprived of their right to a fair trial and transparent judicial proceedings under Article 10, which constitutes a grave violation of human rights.
Yet, when it comes to similar incidents happening in Karachi, they chose to remain completely silent.
If such anarchy and blatant violation of the constitution and law continue, an incident could occur at any time that might shake the foundation of this entire system.
