IT is an image that must sear itself into the conscience of a nation: a mother, her face contorted in a howl of grief, arms stretched upwards as though asking heaven ‘why?’ and a father, weeping helplessly over the body of their dead son, the earth soaked in the young man’s blood. The victim was Hayat Baloch, a BSc physiology student at Karachi University and the first in his family to go to a higher education institute. With his degree, he believed he could find a job that would bring his parents relief from a financially strapped existence: that dream died with him on a dusty road in Turbat, Balochistan, last week. Hayat and his father were harvesting dates at a farm when passing Frontier Corps vehicles were targeted by an IED. Some FC personnel who had fanned out in the area to search for the culprits came upon Hayat. They dragged him to the road, shot him multiple times and left him to die. His father pleaded in vain that his son had been working alongside him all day.

Extrajudicial killings, often in the form of staged encounters, are a stain on this country’s reputation, belying its claim to be a democracy with constitutionally protected rights to security of person and due process. Hayat’s murder created an uproar largely because the image described above went viral. The FC has handed over the alleged killer to the police, and Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari condemned the “brazen killing” as “absolutely unacceptable” saying that an inquiry must be held. One hopes that justice will indeed be served. Usually, however, most victims of this crime remain mere statistics. Not only do extrajudicial killings take place with impunity in the sparsely populated reaches of Balochistan, but elsewhere in the country too, including Karachi — a consequence of the carte blanche certain sections of law-enforcement have been given in the name of fighting against militant/separatist groups. Who can forget former SSP Rao Anwar under whom, according to the police’s own record, at least 444 people were slain in fake encounters? A public furore similar to the one over Hayat’s death finally led to Rao being indicted for Naqeebullah Mehsud’s murder in January 2018. But the now retired cop remains free on bail while his trial drags on and key prosecution witnesses turn hostile. Such is the bitter reality of how the state, more often than not, treats extrajudicial killings.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2020