KARACHI, April 27: People are so scared of police that it prevents them from providing help to victims of terrorism or accidents. This was brought home once again, probably for the umpteenth time, on Friday-Saturday night. Two men lay bleeding, dying or probably already dead on Sunset Boulevard in Defence. Later on, it was revealed that they were Dr Nishat Malik and Mustafa Kamal Rizvi.

It was around 12:50am. Scores of vehicles whizzed past as one victim lay in the middle of the road and the other on the nearby footpath. No one dared to stop and see if he could help them. So did I.

Driver MH was taking me in Dawn’s official Lite-Ace van to my residence in a Korangi locality. Just past the Shell petrol station on Sunset Boulevard, he exclaimed: “There is a dead body lying on the road. Another on the footpath.”

On impulse, he pressed on the brake. But the next moment he accelerated the vehicle.

I agreed with MH that we could do nothing except to inform police as soon as we could. Near Kashmir Colony, we saw a police van coming from Korangi. MH got off the vehicle and rushed to the police mobile to tell police about the bodies. Police agreed to drive to the spot but said they were informing the Defence police as they themselves belonged to Korangi police station.

After a few minutes, I was at my residence, and I immediately informed our City Editor about the presence of the bodies on the road.

On the way, a visibly shaken MH told me about an incident in which he had helped bring a dying man to Civil Hospital. And the next day he was answering police’s queries, who accused him of having killed the man.

Almost every third man has a similar story to tell about police’s apathy towards those who help such victims.

Often there are public outcry against police harassment of those who help dying victims of accidents, terrorism and other incidents.

There have been many assurances by the authorities to amend the laws to address the problem. The assurances are yet to translate into something concrete. — Naseer Ahmad