IF the cannibals of Bhakkar weren’t enough for you, last week we were treated to the story of a serial killer in Lahore. Muhammed Ejaz, a paramedic by profession, is accused of murdering homosexuals apparently because he “wanted to warn them to stay away from this evil”. He also claims that he did this to avenge abuse he suffered in his childhood. According to police, however, he also had sex with his victims before drugging them and breaking their necks.

Ejaz isn’t unique in his apparent desire to destroy the objects of his erotic fixation. Take the ‘Killer Clown’ John Wayne Gacy, an American serial killer who was executed in May 10, 1994. Gacy, during his prolific career, sexually assaulted and killed at least 33 teenage boys and young men. However, Gacy remained adamant till the end that he himself was not a ‘fruit picker’, a pejorative title he used for homosexuals. Similarly, Ejaz refers to homosexuals as ‘kachra’ throughout the course of a televised interview.

It’s tempting to write off serial killers as a Western phenomenon. After all, the popular perception is of the ‘single, white male who kept mostly to himself.’ While it is true that most of the truly famous serial killers hail from America, this probably appears so due to the cultural dominance of the US and also to the fact that people actually (more often than not) tend to get caught and jailed in that country.

Certainly Pakistan has seen more than a few, going as far back as the ‘hathora group’ in the ’80s. Most notorious of local serial killers was Javed Iqbal who allegedly killed close to 100 children, dissolving their bodies in acid. He apparently tried to turn himself in once but his surreal confession was laughed off by police. It was only later, when he wrote a letter detailing his crimes, that the police finally went after him.

More recently, in 2012, the dismembered bodies of women started being found in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar and Guru Mandir areas, among other locations. This was eventually found to be the alleged handiwork of a rickshaw driver called Rafiq. Curiously, his crimes took place around the 9th of each month. Beyond that there was nothing remarkable about him, and I recall speaking to a reporter who interviewed him who said she was ‘disappointed’ with how ‘normal’ he seemed.

One should also note that he was previously in custody for killing a woman. That’s something he has in common with Muhammad Sarwar, who rose to infamy when, in 2007, he shot and killed Punjab Minister for Social Welfare Zille Huma because “she was not wearing Muslim clothing”. It would be tempting to write him off as a fanatic but that would only be partly true. Previously he had been arrested for the murder of several sex workers in 2003 because he wanted to ‘cleanse’ society, much like the aforementioned Ejaz.

Why he was able to get out and kill again is a question one must ask the police and judiciary. It was only after he shot a serving minister that he was apprehended and died in jail a few years back. Now that’s something to ponder; given the state of law enforcement and the abysmal conviction rate of the judiciary, how many such people stalk our streets right now, their crimes unnoticed in an atmosphere of general lawlessness and impunity? How many of the mutilated corpses that are found are the work of serial killers? And, for that matter, how many such psychopaths find gainful employment among the ranks of terrorists and target killers?

There have been attempts to understand what makes these people tick. There is the simplistic MacDonald triad and any number of tests. Scans have been conducted on the brains of executed serial killers, and with a few exceptions, they have turned out to be as ‘normal’ as you and I. Even more frightening is that many of them live what seems, at first glance, to be absolutely normal lives, with families, children and careers.

The truth is that we simply don’t know how a serial killer’s mind works. And whether they couch their deeds in religious rhetoric, claims of abuse or the idea that they are exacting revenge from a society that has ‘wronged’ them, the excuses made by serial killers are just that: excuses.

If there is a common thread here, it is an absolute lack of empathy, and the desire to dehumanise their victims. They torture and murder with the same amount of emotional detachment that we would display in throwing away a candy wrapper or stubbing out a cigarette.

The writer is a member of staff.

zarrar.khuhro@gmail.com

Twitter: @ZarrarKhuhro