He was having a casual discussion with his friends in one of his neighboring tea hotel when he was abducted as suspect by local police. He was later murdered in an encounter with the police as a terrorist. This social media sensation and aspirant model named Naqeebullah Mahsud is not only the single incident in the first month of 2018. In the same city of Karachi, there was another incident of similar nature. A young student named Intezar Ahmad who came on holidays from Malaysia was murdered by Anti Car Lifting Police as a suspect. One wonders do they (Anti Car Lifting Police) even have a right to stop someone on suspicion? These above-mentioned incidents are the golden example of “Extra-Judicial Killing” which is the norm in our society.
These unfortunate incidents are the few ones which got social media attention. For the past couple of years, there has been huge activism in social media to bring these sorts of incidents into the limelight. Similarly, our judiciary has also started giving prompt response to these cases which are highly appreciated by the masses. The question remains unanswered as to what our Legislatures and Relevant Departments are doing in response to this intensive social activism?
We don’t have to be the Einstein to understand why our people are socially charged. There used to be a time when fake news and polls were planted to mold the opinions of people and get the desired outcome. There are many media houses even today following the similar past patterns of faking the public opinions. But social media in Pakistan, with active 50 million internet users, has changed those rotten and obsolete past trends. Today, Pakistan’s population comprises of 60% young minds who want things to be done in order. This generation has seen a broken and fragmented society. They have seen long hours of power break down, broken roads, poisonous drinking water with human wastes, high rate of unemployment and inflation, useless degrees of universities, non-existent health care system, Bhatta Mafias and corruptions of people in power.
This generation can no longer be betrayed by juggling economic data, the large number of advertisements of repetitive inaugurations of non-existent development projects and golden words of great leaders and their fiddles self-worshipping in their long and yawning speeches. This young, dynamic, prudent and rational generation can no longer be fooled now. They want all and every privilege considered as the basic human rights in other countries. They want the rights to live, freedom of speech, Access to timely and inexpensive Justice, equal economic opportunities and sense of security.
In the current judicial landscape, our courts have started many cases of public interests with compelling resistance from our Legislatures and Bureaucracy. Courts are up to the tasks of bringing the basic utilities to the citizens of Pakistan including Health, Education, Proper Living and Security of Life. It must also be kept in mind that this judicial activism has full support from the common citizens of the motherland. This judicial activism is not a new phenomenon in any country. There have been uncountable examples of Judiciary taking keen interests in the well-being of the common citizens throughout the world. The obstruction of the Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration by four Judges in the USA last year can be considered as the most prominent and well-known example of Judicial Activism in safeguarding the rights of citizens.
Politicians have been unanimously praising the unlimited benefits of the democratic system and how much it’s important for the existence of our motherland. On the other side, our people have been kept on yawning on these alien and bizarre statements which have been oversold to them for 70 years now. Traditionally, there are three pillars of any state: The Legislature, The Executive, and the Judiciary. In the modern era, Media is considered as the “fourth pillar” of any state. The core function of the Legislature or Government is to act on behalf of the citizens. The Judiciary makes sure the fair treatment of citizens. Humorously, our Government with the help of Bureaucrats is actually acting against the interests of the common citizens in Pakistan for the past 70 years. It is bitter but it is the brutal reality. Since Pakistan’s existence, there is a continuous surge in the uplift of the people in power at the absolute cost of citizens’ well-being. This feeble attitude of our Government can no longer be tolerated by our masses. Alarmingly, public office holders are not taking things seriously.
It is the high time for our Government to do all the relevant actions which are long due to her. The first responsibility of our “Public Office Holders“ is strengthening all the Government Departments and making them functional and independent without any influence from any corner. Similarly, they must work for the social and economic uplift of the people and should coordinate with Judiciary in every way possible so that pace of justice remains uninterrupted and completed on time. Our political parties should also gulp this bitter truth and remove all of their black sheep from their flock. They must withdraw the policy of defending every wrongdoing or trying to be the so-called victim of the unseen hands working against them. In the end, it can be said that our politicians will bear the brunt of the nation’s anger if they do not understand the need of the hour.
