Justice delayed in some cases isn’t always denied. After a year since the senseless and utterly tragic deaths of two brothers in Sialkot, the jury has given a judgment.
Talking to Dawn, the family of Mughees and Muneeb said they were satisfied with the verdict in which the court sentenced seven of the convicts to death on four counts, gave life-term on four counts to six of them and jailed nine policemen, including a former district police officer, for three years.
Perhaps they can now begin to heal.
Given this with a prompt verdict on Sarfaraz Shah’s case, can one begin to hope for justice in this country which often seems to host more chaos than order?
Will people who assume they can take the law in their own hands, think twice before they start beating an innocent teenager to death?
Can the citizens of Pakistan finally expect efficiency in the cases of complete injustice?
Dawn.com invites its readers to give their view.
Justice delayed is justice denied. Though this was not a benchmark by any standard, I do hope that our judiciary, understanding the need of swift decisions, will play its role in improving the law and order situation.
It is too difficult to answer these questions as our Judiciary does not take cognizance all the time. Nevertheless, this delayed verdict is eulogized and will give solace to the bereaved family.
The barbaric act of lynching of two teenagers in front of the whole village depicted how hollow our society has become from inside. We have forgot all of our moral values. This verdict show that there is still humanity left in our culture & it will send a strong message to people who take law into their hands. At the same time government is responsible for not providing security to its citizens which has created such a mess. I hope justice will be done to the culprits and nobody will be able to do such an inhumane act again.
What seems to appear, does not always reflect the actual reality. The cops in the case, will be treated as guests in special type of prison (more like an extended leave, with comfortable provisions, whilst inside their so called “prison”. As for the evil men from buttur village, who have been sentenced for their part in the barbaric acts of murdering the two brothers in sialkot, their stay inside the prison will be like a rest home, dudh makkan, parratey, and moorgha etc, etc. Who knows later on at some point, all these people will get their sentences commuted through some bribe and legal loop hole. Only Allah’s justice is truly complete.
So basically we should take it as a good sign that police responsible for not doing anything and helping those who were attacking the kids are only going in for 3 years. Only in Pakistan can the people be happy with this verdict…
I think you need to appreciate the verdict at least a little. We should look this as a positive sign. Allah’s justice will not teach an immediate lesson to our hollow society.
The momentous decision of the court is the victory of media and civil society who raised their voices against such a tragic incident.
This was indeed the most ruthless and merciless killing known in Pakistan. I believe only few were punished since the people who watched over the incident, did not try to protect the innocent or furthermore even after their deaths did not report the incident or even fealt the shame and ran away were also responsible for the crime. Such is our society that we watch the killing without any remorse whatsoever.
May Allah’s blessings be with this family and May Allah give Jannat to the innocent boys.
i so agree, when i first saw this video i couldnt believe it was for real, though its not practical to hang that crowd but they all deserved it.
Still its a good decision and i wish it will make people think again before taking law in their hands..
Laws have always been in place as a deterrent. However the failure in application has strengthened our resolve to get by. Yes if ppl know that they will be held accountable and cannot buy their way out – they will serve as deterrents. otherwise…it’s an eyewash and anarchy will continue to prevail!
“Justice” if thats what you want to call it, was only given due to the fact it was seen by the world, three years in jail is nothing, he’ll probably be able to come and go as he pleases, this “justice” was only given to the public to calm them down.
The courts will have to move a step further to restore dwindling confidence in the system.
The tragic event not only reflects the image of a monster inside us but also of the lack of tolerance that has plagued us at a national level.
This is good thing but in my view Police officers shall be given more punishment. Further, the main reason of corruption etc in our country is injustice in our country and weak judicial system. The culprits know that they will not be questioned for their wrongdoings so I don’t think that by this decision we can conclude that our judicial system is strong.
Its very sad to see the beautiful young faces no more, but pleased to read about the courts judgement. Wishing the crime to be dealth strongly by the law enforcement agencies of Pakistan.
The answer is Yes. We are always ready to criticize so We must also appreciate the verdict and our judiciary
It is a very good feeling that 2 big cases (that have actually effected people) have been resolved and rather very quickly given the history of such cases. Inshallah this will serve as precedence and serve as a dawn of a new era where atleast a common man can not worry about petty and senseless crimes when stepping out of his house. One step at a time.
I am really glad, that partial justice has been done, after one of tyhe most grotesque killings in Pakistan ever, since it came to media spotlight. I remember how non resident Pakistanis across Europe and UK couldnt sleep for days after watching the horrific tale of brutal and senseless people of sialkot displaying utter nonsense. We rallied across countries and embassies, and I remember how youngsters from Pakistan and Pakistani background supported the cause at least in staging a protest in London. Good justice to the killers, happy over their 4 hangings, but I think police officer should have been given life imprisonment or death penalty too……..
Justice for Muneeb and Mughees is well deserved and long awaited. But two questions come to mind:
1. What if Muneeb and Mughees were the killers? Would we all have lobbied for them the same way we did now?
2. Since they were innocent. Who then killed ‘Bilal’ the man they were accused of killing? When will Bilal and his family get justice?
Only when we separate vengeance and justice can we truly prevent such a brutal murder from happening again.
Viable argument. But this question is for those who will be on death row and other will spend rest of their lives behind bars. Only they can solve this mystery and put the family of Bilal at ease.
They were not the killers we all know that now based on all the facts. Even if they were killers no one is allowed to killed anyone. It is the court who decide and not anyone else. One cannot even kill an animal like that, they way these two boys were killed. We are humans and we need to act like humans not like animals. May Allah rest thier soul in peace.
Yes we should have lobbied for them same way as we are humans and atleast believe that what happened to those 2 boys, should and and cannot happen to even convicts. If we search any archive, we will never find a more horrific, barbaric instance of violence. As for Bilal, it should be investigated and justice dispensed. BTW, the police officers should have atleast gotten Life sentence for their crime.
With all the bad news inundating our daily lives, these two news serve the purpose of a hope to say at least.
It is too early to hope much on this hope but we have no other choice.
Its definitely a step in the right direction. A country where hopelessness prevails, even small justice should be cherished. Somebody from the law enforcement agencies need to step up and tell people that taking law in their own hands is harmful for them only, for they could be at the receiving end at some point in their life.