by Muhammad Ikram
The sialkot incidence is another dark chapter in the history of this poor blighted nation. Two children leave home for sport and recreation and are forcibly involved in an incidence of alleged dacoity with which they have no apparent connection. They are delivered into the custody of 1122 police officials who then tie them with ropes and deliver them over to a brutal mob and then these same police officers instigate, encourage and facilitate this mob to torture the boys for up to two hours before they meet their end. All the while the victims are fasting the fast of ramadhan while the baying mob shouts curses upon them. The torture is unimaginably cruel and sustained, so much so that one finds it difficult even to watch it from the sanitised distance of the television screen, then what about those two children who had to experience that horror and cruelty at the hands of that mob. Those children had to endure hundreds if not thousands of blows. It would not be wrong to conjecture that every single bone in their body was broken. I could continue the description of their suffering and torment for a million words and still not capture the agony they suffered. All this on the main Sialkot-Gujranwala highway opposite the “rescue” centre set up to help the public. This event must force us into a re-examination of the very foundations of our society. How did we come to this? And what are we to do? What is missing? What is broken? What must be repaired and mended?. It could be argued that the malaise is complex and requires complex solutions and indeed this is so. We have lost our bearings and are floundering around in a dark sea without a compass. I have watched at least five or six hours of debate and discussion by well meaning, intelligent individuals on this issue, yet no one has really offered a satisfactory, methodical analysis or solution to this particular dilemma that we face. Perhaps the public arena of tv shows is not the place for an honest debate, it is too much of a pantomime with silly point scoring and people defending their corner, right or wrong.
It would be right to reflect on the circumstances surrounding this event . Needless to say none of our remarks are an attempt to pre-empt the current investigations and enquiries by the various agencies. However it would be useful to explore and discuss some of the issues and events to gain an understanding of what happened. Now as we know there has been a culture of extra-judicial Police action in many minor and major cases, where the Police will meet out a slap or a beating or even commit murder to punish an alleged offender. And to some extent this has become acceptable practice along the entire chain of Police command and is even accepted and condoned by society and its leaders. It is a short-cut kind of justice in a situation where a lack of resources, training, accountability and corruption have combined to erode principles of Due Process and Presumption of Innocence. Along the way the entire moral fabric of the law enforcement and judicial and political system has been shattered. The volatile cocktail of extra-judicial action and lack of Police accountability is the MOST direct cause of the deaths of those two boys. The behaviour of the crowd is a but a deadly symptom of that.
Now let us examine the events of that day in a chronological sequence. Sometime during the night or early morning a dacoity is alleged to have occurred in village Buttar nr Sialkot, two people are shot during the incidence and the dacoits flee. A crowd of villagers gather near the 1122 centre in protest at the shootings in their village. Later on in the morning two boys Mughees and Muneeb ride up to the crowd out of curiosity. Some mischievous elements out of a prior insignificant grudge or even a crude prank start shouting that these two boys are the dacoits. They are grabbed and handed over to the custody of the 1122 officer who are told that they are the culprits. Soon after the crowd receives news of the death of one of their injured co-villagers, they demand that the Police hand over the two boys to them. At this point the two boys are handed over to the crowd willingly and without any fear or duress upon the Police. There is video footage of two Police officers tying up the boys and also beating them along with the crowd, which would signify that the Police were enthusiastic instigators and participants in the whole affair. Now the questions arises did the Officers at the 1122 hand over the boys to the crowd on their own independent initiative or did they receive a go ahead from higher officers. It is difficult to believe that these constables would take such a decision independently. It is probable that when news was received of the death of the villager who had been shot there was communication between the 1122 centre and higher officers. The higher officers, either the SHO or the DPO or both were told that man is dead, we have the dacoits and the mob is demanding that they should be handed over to them. The higher officer(s) without any deeper enquiry or reflection into the age, nature or background of the alleged dacoits make an instant and fatal decision to give the go ahead for the hand-over of the boys to the mob. And there begins the video footage, firstly of the two Police officers tying up the boys and initiating the brutal and cruel beating.
There is further footage of extreme violence perpetrated in the presence of Rana Ilyas the SHO, whose demeanour is extremely relaxed and casual, he is accompanied by fifteen or so armed officers who are arranged almost in a ring around the boys in order it would seem to allow the brutality to continue without interference or interruption from any well meaning member of the public. The SHO’s manner is almost that of a supervisor. There after there is footage of the DPO on the scene. Whether or not the boys were alive when he arrived at the scene is yet to be established. However his manner is equally relaxed and casual and he appears to be receiving congratulations from individuals in the crowd in a very friendly manner. There is no tension between the police whether constables or higher officers and the crowd which belies some police claims that the boys were snatched from them. After this the boys were cut down, thrown into a tractor trolley and paraded around the locality with a police escort in a clear attempt by the Police to take credit for this incidence. This part at least was with the clear permission and knowledge of the DPO.
What next? The boys are dead. The family, the nation is in deep anguish.
Perhaps this could only have happened to these boys from this family in this month. Perhaps this will shock is into changing our ways, Because had it been some other individual from a less “respectable” background maybe we would have shrugged our shoulders and not taken notice. However the tender age of these boys along with their almost angelic nature, their almost ideal family. Their clearly venerable and noble grandfather, their balanced and reasonable uncle. Their wonderful dignified mother, has shocked us out of our stupor, we are all traumatised. This family represents the very best of our society. Allah has chosen them perhaps to jolt us out of our apathy.
This incidence must be used to re-establish the rule of law. During the Hujjatul-wida a woman, Fatimah Al-makhzumiya was found to have stolen something, she was sentenced to have her hand amputated. This was a huge disgrace for the Banu Makhzum, remember Khalid bin Walid and other Quraish nobles are from this clan. They enlisted Usamah bin Zaid to intercede with the Prophet (saw). The Prophet (saw) reprimanded Usamah severely and is said to have stated, “even if it were Fatimah the daughter of Muhammad, I would remove her hand, Don’t you know that the former nations were destroyed when they punished the weak and let the strong go free”. The Prophet of mercy, is establishing the principle of the” rule of law”. The bedrock of any decent society. There is a very real fear that there will be an attempt to protect the higher Police Officer from any serious charges and please note that I have said charges and not punishment because the punishment is to be decided by due process. However the DPO must at the very least face serious charges, and all those found guilty must be dealt with in an exemplary manner, not out of emotional anger but in order to establish the rule of law and as a deterrence to the rest of society. if the DPO or SHO are found on the evidence to be complicit in this matter then they must be charged with murder, nothing less. It will be all too easy to be harsh with the illiterate rascals who carried out the brutality but what of the Officers who condoned and encouraged it when they could and should have stopped it. Some Politicians may wish to exercise leniency towards the Higher Police Officers out of temporary political expediency. If that happens we will have lost another opportunity to set things right, the death of Hafiz Mughees and little Muneeb would have been in vain, the suffering of their mother squandered and our society will continue on its current suicidal course. But if we take the culprits to task, not out of vengeance but for the sake of justice then it will inject a bitter but necessary medicine into the body of our law enforcement agencies and it will also be a significant example and deterrence to the rest of society.
I agree with what you said. Will it happen. I have no trust left in the government. They are bunch of hoodlums. They will add to our confusion more and more.
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