AS the nation limped back to work on Saturday, newspaper headlines graphically encapsulated the street horror which television had kept beaming to the world the day before: ‘Pakistan burns and bleeds’; ‘On a day of love, riots rule’; etc. A greater catalogue of villainy is not needed to put to shame the entire Pakistani leadership, in government or out of it. The administration comes out discredited, its law-enforcement machinery having proved itself totally inept, while the political parties failed to keep the strike peaceful, and most leaders —– otherwise ubiquitous — had all but vanished. Minor rallies here and there were led by local leaders, but not one political bigwig was seen where the action was — where people fell to the ground, where fires flared, where banks and public and private property were looted, where armed hoodlums stormed what were supposed to be impregnable fortresses.

The much-maligned police were left to fight alone what from the word go was a one-way battle and with such training and equipment as they have. But they failed and some were killed. The world over there are riot police, well-armed and well-trained. Pakistan has no such force. The result was Friday’s unqualified victory for the determined mobs. What was astonishing, however, was the absence of the paramilitary forces precisely when they were needed — in the hours when furious and highly instigated, if not inspired, but leaderless crowds went on the rampage from Karachi to Lahore to Islamabad to Peshawar. Not taking their cue from the intensity of the mob attack in Peshawar, the law-enforcement set-up completely collapsed in Karachi, which saw some of the most grotesque scenes. Within a stone’s throw from the Rangers’ headquarters — itself well-defended with several layers of barricades and bollards — rioters torched banks and restaurants in the red zone that has the official residences of Sindh’s governor and chief minister. The Rangers didn’t stir. Firing could be heard all over the place, but the Rangers’ leadership had made up its mind to remain within the well-protected confines of their headquarters while the country’s largest city was at the mercy of sadistic bands feasting their eyes on burning buildings and smouldering hulks.

Calling for peaceful rallies in the country had been a mere formality, because both the opposition parties and the government knew full well that violence was bound to occur, given the history of previous such ‘peaceful’ protests. More such anarchic fits are likely to engulf the nation unless all hues of leadership rise above partisan considerations to tackle the crisis that is corroding Pakistan.