THE growing incidence of mob lynchings all over the country is grounds for concern. In the past fortnight alone, we have seen three horrific examples of angry mobs chasing individuals alleged to have committed blasphemy. The latest incident took place in Hub, Balochistan. However, it is not only those accused of blasphemy who are hunted down and often killed. There have been many incidents in which individuals suspected of being involved in theft have faced the mob’s wrath as in the tragic case of two brothers, wrongly identified as robbers, who were lynched in Sialkot some years ago. This is a dangerous trend and if allowed to continue, could reach a point where no one would be able to control the angry crowds.

Perhaps only a comprehensive study can identify all the causes for this kind of vigilantism. A broad canvas though would show that socioeconomic frustrations, the lack of access to justice, the religiosity and intolerance set in motion during the Zia regime and, critically, poor enforcement of the law have a large role in the making of today’s fanatical crowds that are ready to take matters into their own hands. And it is unfortunate that very often this tendency is opportunistically fanned by sections of the media especially with regard to blasphemy accusations.

Any solution to reverse this trend — that has been years in the making — would have to be multipronged. But first, the state must see the flaws of its own acts of commission and omission. As a beginning, the state must recognise that this tendency represents an erosion of its own writ. Only then would it be possible to take steps to correct it. Further, it must ask itself what has been done to alleviate socioeconomic challenges, and to strengthen the judiciary and police. It must also ask itself how far its own curriculum, with its overtones of bigotry and discrimination, is feeding into the problem. The larger problems of growing intolerance will take time and political will to resolve. But in the immediate term, a sobering of our national discourse is needed to soothe anxieties and calm the passions that ignite such mobs. The mass media has a critical role to play here, in sending out the message that no matter how powerful the provocation, taking the law into your hands is not justifiable under any circumstances. There must be no exceptions, and no caveats applied to this principle.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2017