A YOUNG life brutally extinguished in Karachi. A picture of a teenager lying in a hospital bed in Peshawar. There have been many more such images and reports. The guns have been blazing again in the wake of Pakistan’s victory in the Champions Trophy, but many of the bullets have been shorn of celebratory status. Some of them, in fact, have proved to be lethal, transforming joy into sorrow. Meanwhile, the number of people injured in the celebratory fire runs into the hundreds. While this manner of jubilation must surely be considered odd in any civilised nation, what is more puzzling — and disheartening — in our case is the way in which the political elite not only tolerates such dangerous expressions of joy but is often willing to participate in the exercise. Further, it seems that our law enforcers, instead of cracking down on revellers with guns, prefer to stay at a safe distance from them. There may be the odd arrest or two at the insistence of the opposition and media, as in the case of a PPP politician in the latest instance. But then, everyone is aware that such action is taken usually to placate those sections of the public that are seen as ‘overreacting’ to the perilous fallout of celebratory firing.

This country is no stranger to stern administrators fond of firing policemen on the spot. Quite often, the law enforcers are threatened with dismissal for being unable to curb a certain practice. So why don’t the same administrators use their authority to set policemen on the trail of all those who love to indulge in senseless shooting sprees? Indeed, the purge must begin with the gun-toting, firing goons who accompany all kinds of leaders, big or small, and who must celebrate all victories in this appalling manner. Unless the authorities show that they are serious about curbing the practice, celebratory firing will continue to take many lives that need not have been cut short.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2017