Samia Sarwar was a victim of an 'honour killing' in 1999 at the hands of an assassin hired by her gynaecologist mother and her father, president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sarwar Khan Momand. Unbelievable as it may be, Mr Momand to this day remains the elected and re-elected head of the Chamber.

This February 6 he put in an appearance at a conference of the United Nations Development Programme at Islamabad, having been invited as a representative of his province and a member of civil society to discuss, inter alia, the state and position of women in Pakistan today.

Rather than becoming a hangdog hermit for the rest of his life, this man, Momand, continued with his normal life, and without one moment's hesitation had the gall to accept the UNDP invitation. That the UNDP does not do its homework on the background of those it invites is another matter.

Pakistan's United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, Feryal Ali Gohar, has written strongly and in detail on this subject in an article published in this newspaper on February 26. On February 28, her criticism was answered by a letter to the editor from Resident Representative of the UNDP Onder Yucer. He admitted that his organization "cannot take any responsibility for the participation of persons whose legitimacy and credibility may be in serious doubt."

We must wonder what will be the reaction of the man Momand to this latest incident. Will he react, or will he carry on with his sterling work for the Sarhad Chamber and be feted and lionized by his peers?

On our statute books there stands the most iniquitous law, Section 295 (c) of the Blasphemy Laws in our Penal Code. Way back in 2000, our military ruler General Pervez Musharraf (not dictator enough by far) made noises about amending this particularly repugnant law so as to render it less open to abuse for personal vengeance or gain. His advisers persuaded him to leave it alone, not to touch it, as it might arouse the ire of the religious right.

On February 6, an accused under this dreadful law, Mushtaq Zafar, was released on bail by the Lahore High Court. Shortly after he left the court, in broad daylight, in busy Lahore, the man was shot to death by an unknown and uncaptured gunman.

Now, after a brief break, Karachi is back to normal - the normality dating from the late 1980s. On February 22, in a tea shop in Karachi's Salman Farsi Society, a number of law abiding citizens were happily minding their own business and watching that day's World Cup cricket match between Pakistan and England. As the time for Maghrib prayers approached many of the group started to move out of the tea shop towards the adjacent Masjid Al-Muntazir Mehdi.

As they walked towards their masjid, three men on a Honda motor bike drew up. Two were armed with Kalashnikovs and pistols and opened fire. One man, Khadim Hussain, died on the spot, eight others fell mortally wounded, and died on the way to hospital. The eight were: Yawar Abbas, Sajid Hussain, Muhammad Ali, Parvez Fareed, Ramzan Ali, Muhabbat Ali, Ishtiaq Ali, and Muhammad Ali Gohar. Eight other men making their way to the Imambargah to say their prayers were injured. All were followers of the Shia faith. Needless to say, the motor bikers got cleanly and calmly away.

An FIR (51/2003) has been filed at the Al Falah police station by Mohsin Ali, the owner of the tea shop, and the investigations are being pursued by a team of eight under SIP Muhammad Yaqoob of the Investigations Branch at Al Falah. The DSP and SHO of the police station have been suspended for their lax attitude (in keeping with government policy) towards law and order.

At the scene of the crime, 21 Kalashnikov empties and five TT empties were recovered. Sketches have been made of the suspects, following descriptions given by witnesses to this crime of sectarian terrorism.

The Sindh home minister has admitted that the killings seem to be sectarian motivated - with the aim of destabilizing his government. Though one can hardly term whatever government we have here as being in any way stable. The chief minister has awarded compensation of Rs.100,000 for each of the dead and Rs.25,000 for the injured. In a magnanimous gesture, the government has also agreed to pay for the transportation of the bodies to their home villages.

In this case, the majority of the slain were from Gilgit. The case is closed for all intents and purposes. The papers will be filed along with those regarding the unsolved murder case of our first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, shot dead over fifty years ago, and with the many such other unsolved cases.

So much for the Sindh government. As for the federal government, the interior minister, who should never have been allotted that slot, 'patriot' or no patriot, and whose job makes him responsible for law and order in the country at large, has remained silent and obviously unconcerned. The information minister offered his condolences which will of course go far in reassuring us all of our government's concern for our safety, and of its intent to ensure that there will be no further brutal wave of terrorist killings in the name of religion.

On February 24, the city witnessed further uncontrolled violence when a funeral procession for the slain Shias was converted into a show of anger by the mob, with vehicles set afire and properties attacked, damaged and ransacked. Violence breeds violence, rabbit-like, and all signs now point to it being on the rampage.

On February 27, three armed men on a motor cycle (the same three?) drew up at the Subhani Bakery on M.A. Jinnah Road, in the Lighthouse vicinity. Two dismounted, entered the shop, and shot dead the owner and one employee, Ghulam Hussain and Baqar Raza. Both were Shias. "It appears to be a sectarian killing," says our experienced bureaucratic Sindh home minister, Syed Sardar Ahmad.

On that same day, two motorcyclists shot dead the owner of a Public Call Office in Block 14, FB Area, who was calmly sitting in his office. This was termed by the DIG Operations as a 'target killing'. Salim Shahzad may also well have been a Shia - reportedly 'he was affiliated with a religious organization'.

More condoned mob violence on February 28, during the funeral procession of the two slain teashop Shias. In the Arambagh area cars were set alight, stoned, tyres were burnt on the roads, windshields were smashed, as were the windows of shops which were forced to close.

The incident of February 28, when two policemen doing their duty were gunned down in one of the most heavily protected area of Karachi, outside the US consulate general, beggars belief. We have yet to read of any resignations of those in charge of law and order and of the enforcement of law who are either incapable of doing, or do not wish to do, the jobs for which they are paid and perked.

It is now all too late. Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Pakistan died with him in September 1948. He meant every word he said when, on August 11, 1947, the first thing he told the legislators of his Constituent Assembly, who had gathered in Karachi, was that the first duty, the first and foremost duty, of any government, he said, is to enforce and maintain law and order so that the lives, properties and the religious beliefs of its citizens are protected.

President General Pervez Musharraf, had two golden chances handed to him to do so much good for a country in such dire need. That he chose not to do so will forever be held against him by history - though not by those who he chose to surround him. His latest resurrection, Darbari Mushahid Sahib, will doubtlessly survive him.