The unfortunate and brutal murder of MQM MNA Tahira Asif must be condemned and so must the brutal murder of every citizen of Pakistan killed in every part of Pakistan. It is the lack of punishment and resolve by state to curb heinous crimes such as murder, rape, and paedophile crimes, which has led to the cultivation of this culture where criminals are tolerated and spared instead of being severely punished. There is no doubt that ultimate responsibility for securing lives and property of all citizens, irrespective of their caste, creed or status, lies squarely on the shoulder of every provincial government where innocent blood has been shed. A murder is murder, whether committed by bullet of TTP, Uzbek, target killers of Karachi criminal mafia, land mafia gang, or extremist sectarian hate groups killing Shias, Sunnis or members of other faith.
While Sindh assembly has passed a unanimous resolution condemning murder of MNA Tahira Asif, it has chosen in its wisdom to ignore targeted murders of scores of policemen and innocent citizens within its territorial jurisdiction, as if they were children of lesser gods. It is time that murder be considered a crime, irrespective of who fires the bullet or stones to death a women, or is killed by dogs of feudal waderas, or so called honour killings and declaration of Vani by panchayat, or revenge killings by goons of political parties. What we need is adoption of zero tolerance for crime by state, as is policy in countries like UK and a policy which our religion Islam emphasises upon.
MALIK TARIQ
Lahore