When mobs rule

Has the mob become a dominant force in Pakistani society? We do have some evidence to justify this fearful assertion, though primarily in the context of religious passions. And it is hard to understand why the state, with its formidable force, is unable or unwilling to deal with these intimations of mobocracy.

On the other hand, of course, resolute action is taken to suppress political opposition. Ample attention is devoted to this enterprise and measures adopted to contain the influence of Imran Khan’s party are, it seems, meticulously devised and diligently enforced.

In fact, there has been a lot of activity this week on the political front. Some kind of a legislative thriller was in the works, in a dubious pursuit of a constitutional amendment. In the end, it was all a game of numbers and this allowed Maulana Fazlur Rehman to play on both sides. Another suspenseful dispute has continued between the Election Commission of Pakistan and a judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

We have this weekend the spectacle of the PTI’s public meeting in Lahore. Because of my deadline, I am unable to make any observations on how it panned out. In any case, it is something for the media to play with. I am troubled by other thoughts.

This is why I am setting so much aside to focus on another show of strength by a mob and, more significantly, another detestable show of the powerlessness of the state. Actually, in this case, the police have apparently served as an extension of the mob. Once again, a person suspected of committing blasphemy has become the flaming casualty of Pakistan’s moral and societal degradation.

Let’s have a quick glimpse of some relevant facts. A doctor working in Umerkot was accused of posting blasphemous content on Facebook and a case was registered against him on Wednesday. The suspect is said to have fled to Karachi. There is some confusion about how he was found and killed in an alleged encounter with the police in Mirpurkhas.

On Wednesday, a large mob demonstrated in Umerkot, demanding the doctor’s arrest. A police mobile was set on fire. After the alleged extrajudicial killing in Mirpurkhas, the body was handed over to the family. But the mob was in hot pursuit, trying to snatch the body and burn it. Finally, it happened. The mob got the body and set it ablaze after midnight on Thursday night. Just imagine the agonizing struggle of the family to just bury the body. It is more horrific than a Greek tragedy.

What was perhaps a greater tragedy was enacted within the precincts of the police station of the jurisdiction where the doctor was shot dead. Some clerics and zealots arrived at the police station to congratulate the police officials on their deed of killing the blasphemy suspect. There are videos of police officials being garlanded and showered with rose petals. It breaks your heart to see that they accept this accolade. One police officer readily bows his head for the garlands, one after another.

Now, after the outrage expressed by civil society and human rights defenders, action has been taken against the relevant police officials and an inquiry ordered – though belatedly on Friday. But what do they, the rulers, intend to do to erase the dark passions that have infiltrated the minds of such a large number of people in this country?

Before anyone is inclined to probe this question, other accounts of how the officials literally collaborated with the fanatics come to mind. Only last week, a policeman killed a blasphemy suspect in Quetta. The suspect was under arrest and the murder took place in the police station. Here also, the policeman was praised by the clerics and those who approve of the mob taking the law into its own hands in these matters.

I have an example of how religious extremists can rubbish the authority of the administration and the dictates of reason. In October last year, a senior teacher of zoology at the Government Postgraduate Degree College in Bannu district was made to denounce Darwin’s theory of biological evolution and declare that women are inferior to men.

Obviously, protests were staged against the teacher for what he was teaching in his class. Finally, the administration was involved, and it was in the office of the deputy commissioner that the teacher gave a three-page undertaking that all scientific and rational ideas were in contradiction to Islamic law, including Darwin’s theory of evolution.

He also declared that he believed in women’s inferiority to men in terms of wisdom as stipulated by Islamic law and declared that unnecessary mingling of women with men is not allowed.

This is how the matter was settled ‘amicably’ with the intervention of the administration. One wonders about what the deputy commissioner had been taught in his civil service academy. Besides, this resolution of the dispute would only have been possible with the approval of his seniors or at least with their knowledge.

At another, much lower level, a woman who was wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy was accused by a mob of blasphemy at Ichra Bazaar in Lahore in February this year. Her shirt prominently displayed the word Halwa, which means ‘beautiful’ in Arabic. She found refuge from the mob in a restaurant and much praise was showered on the bravery of the woman police officer who rescued the girl and took her to the safety of a police station.

Ah, the incongruity of all this was the fact that it was the girl, the victim, who offered an apology in the presence of the police officials. No action, of course, was taken against the mob that was threatening her.

The history of violence and murders that relate to charges and allegations of blasphemy is long and unbearable. What does this say about Pakistan, about us?

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com