The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed concern over former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer’s son Shahbaz Taseer’s kidnapping and urged the Punjab government to ensure his early and safe recovery. The abduction of Shahbaz highlights the Punjab government’s inability to afford security and protection even to those known to be at high risk, the commission said.
The human rights watchdog said that such brazen crimes reflect a general deterioration of law and order and add to the sense of insecurity that the people have now grown accustomed to. If those assigned special security are not safe from being snatched in broad daylight in the heart of the country’s second most populous city, the lot of the common person is not that difficult to imagine, the HRCP said. While it is too early to speculate about the abductors’ motives, the HRCP calls upon the Punjab government to ensure that Shahbaz is recovered speedily and his abductors are held to account.
It also demands that rather than responding to the crime after the fact, the Punjab government must invest its efforts and resources in preventing crime, irrespective of the victim’s identity.
Separately, the public expressed its sadness and fear over the horrific incident. Street interviews showed that people felt stripped of the little security that they had begun to feel after a long time. “It’s outrageous the way even people belonging from high-profile sections of society are being kidnapped and killed in broad day light,” Hassan, 26, said. “One can imagine the level of safety a common man would feel in Pakistan,” he said. “After the murders of Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, I have begun to feel that anything can happen,” Mohsin, 27, said.
Many also expressed their anger at the Punjab government for being incompetent in handling the problems of terrorism so rampant in the province. “Why is the CM in Sindh, while there are so many problems in his own province?” questioned one angry man. “We must support other provinces too, but at least today the CM should have immediately flown back to Lahore to handle the issue. Instead, he is giving speeches about target killings in Karachi and floods in Badin. What about floods in his own province?” he asked.
The public seems to have lost any kind of peace of mind that they might have wanted to maintain during Ramadan. “Who will get abducted, killed, or tortured here no one knows. But I wish the authorities responsible would really do something about this. No one can feel safe around here with such administration,” Shaheen, 45, said.
