I THINK the incident of the killing of two brothers in Sialkot is one of the worst kinds of acts of barbarism that we have ever witnessed in our society.

No matter how critically we analyse the reasons for this incident, there seems to be no logical conclusion to what the mob did and how the people in general behaved.

On the other hand, when we talk about the role of the police, we find that they miserably failed not only to protect these brothers but also became a party to the crime. A police van followed the procession carrying the dead bodies of these victims and one of the police constables even rode on the tractor which was pulling the trolley, carrying these dead bodies.

Is this what the police are paid for from public money? I am not surprised to know that police managed to let their own friends escape from their own custody, including the SHO.

What I wonder is that the chief minister was still accompanied by the same inspector general of police who could not take any initiative at the time of occurrence of this incident and could not even pass order to arrest the culprits.

The worst part is that he could not even ensure the safe custody of those who were arrested on the third day. It took him four days and direct orders from the chief minister to arrest the culprits involved; a time sufficient for anyone to even flee the country.

If the inspector-general is so naive and not capable of taking the correct initiative to tow the line given to him by the chief minister, then we are not far away from a sequel to this episode.

Ruling the province by police and that too by an incompetent and corrupt one cannot be termed as providing “good governance” to the people.

How can we assume that in future police would act in a legal manner, provide protection, and curb crime with the same stooges sitting on top?

The fish starts to rot from the head; we need to seriously think about bringing change from top down.

SYED MASOOD HAIDER
Lahore