Getting worse by the day
The broad daylight gun attack on MQM MNA Tahira Asif, deplorable as it was, reflected the worsening crime situation in Lahore in particular and Punjab in general. It did not help, of course, that the tragedy came close on the heels of Punjab police’s barbarity during the Model Town incident. The police force has now earned a seemingly well deserved reputation of being the ruling party’s bodyguards and thugs, always available to terrorise whoever dares to disagree with powers that be, but not too bothered about escalating crime. And the responsibility must be shared by the provincial government, so used to using the bureaucracy as pieces in a power game, and the police hierarchy, so ready to play politics in return for professional, and personal, favours.
Fortunately, doctors were able to save the MNA’s life, barely. Bleeding from bullet wounds in her abdomen and leg almost killed her, we are told, and she stabilised only after receiving 30 bottles of blood and timely life-saving surgery. One shudders to imagine the political fallout had the attackers been successful. The Punjab government is already under immense stress. It’s mishandling of the slightest test to its legitimacy has already pushed it to isolation. And MQM, already angry at the security lapse, would have breathed down Khadim-e-Aala’s neck that much harder.
By the most modest estimates, Punjab police records approximately 300 armed robberies every day. And, with the information available, it will no doubt try to fit Tahira Asif’s case in a similar robbery-gone-wrong variety. But a deeper investigation, and reflection, is needed. It must first be ascertained just how a legislator was almost shot to death in one of the city’s busiest areas, and the attackers allowed to flee. And police officials must also finally realise their prime responsibilities, how and why they have drifted so far from them, and what is needed to get the force back on track.