FOOTAGE from outside Parliament House on Monday showed Samaa TV cameraman Syed Wajid Ali lying prone on the ground, having been pushed by one of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s personal guards as his cavalcade was exiting the premises. What followed was gruesome and entirely without restraint, with a guard ruthlessly rushing to kick the already incapacitated cameraman in the face, in what could have proved to be a fatal injury. And while senior leaders of the PML-N were quick to offer apologies and guarantees that those responsible would be punished, Mr Sharif qualified his earlier statement yesterday by claiming that the cameraman had ‘hit’ a member of his security detail first — never mind that this could have easily happened by accident as the crowd of media workers converged on his vehicle — insinuating that this was somehow a mitigating factor for such a violent reaction.

Mr Sharif’s ambivalence, though disappointing, is hardly surprising; it is deeply indicative of the sense of entitlement with which this country’s political and economic elites navigate public spaces, cloistered by the personal security they either extract from public resources or procure through private means. The spectacle of private security protocols running roughshod on the streets, brandishing their weapons in order to grant their patrons the petty privilege of bypassing traffic is depressingly commonplace. And, often, it is those shouting the loudest against this form of VIP culture who are the first to embrace it if their own fortunes improve. When it comes to enabling the predatory behaviour of arms of hire, there are many levels of responsibility, but ultimately, it is the elite-biased state that is accountable for cultivating a climate of ‘might is right’. By failing to guarantee the majority of the population the right of public safety, it has allowed the worst impulses of private armed guards to flourish — at the cost of rendering ordinary citizens even more insecure. The appalling assault in Islamabad requires more than due process — it demands reflection.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2018