In this fair land of the pure, we have the military, the judiciary, the executive, the administration, the police, and the paan wallahs all at odds with each other, all pulling in opposite directions, none able or willing to work in tandem.

Take the judgment, - which could have been a 'landmark' had it been handed down in a land in which law and order prevails, - delivered by Justice Rehmat Husain Jaffery of the Sindh High Court on April 23 in which he banned throughout the province of Sindh the homemade DIY justice system presided over by a jirga. Six days after this judgment was announced, six days after the high court had ordered the police of the province to ensure that jirgas were not held and that they should take appropriate action to prevent any decision handed down by a jirga being implemented, there came a report from Jacobabad that a formal jirga had been held to settle a murder dispute between two families of the Mugheri clan.

The dispute was provoked by the theft of a bull and resulted in the murder of four persons, with eight others wounded. The police remained at their posts while the matter was settled by the guilty paying a fine of Rs.1.68 million. The local administration shut their ears and eyes, and the 'high-ups' in the provincial capital were unconcerned.

In Dadu on May 6, reportedly a young man and a young woman were shot and killed after having been declared to be karo-kari. The woman's uncle went to the police and an FIR has been registered. It is unlikely that further action will be taken.

Much more horrible, and reported in the international media, was the public raping of two young girls, sisters, on the orders of a jirga held on April 30 in the village of Dinga Kabirwala, District of Multan.

The punishment was handed down as the brother of the two sisters was allegedly having an affair with the daughter of one Ghaffar Jeer, a landlord of a neighbouring village. The man Jeer gathered the local jirga of around 50 people from the Jeer clan who decided that the alleged crime be settled by the payment of the 'honour' of the two sisters. The revenge decision was publicized over the village loudspeakers, and the girls were taken forcibly to some sort of outhouse where Jeer duly raped them both.

According to our press, which reported the matter on May 7 after the BBC had aired it, the police have done nothing. The DIG, Police, Multan, has apparently stated that as the victims had made no approach to the police, no case could be registered. 'Investigations', he said, would be made. However, the BBC had it that the police have formally accused seven people of 'aiding and abetting a revenge rape on two women.'

Possibly because of the foreign media involvement, our president general sprang into immediate action. Reportedly, he has taken 'strong [as opposed to weak] notice' of the incident, and has ordered his interior minister and the governor and chief minister of Punjab, to 'investigate' and punish. General Pervez Musharraf has been quoted: "When a proper legal system exists in the country then who allows such decisions to prosper that not only destroyed the life of two girls but has ruined an entire family?" Who indeed?

Well, normally the buck is said to stop at the desk of the highest in the land - and that is the general himself. He has also reportedly vowed to ensure that only one single legal system functions in the country. We can only hope that he gets going swiftly. We wait, holding our breath.

But it is a no-win situation wherever and whichever way you turn. In the 'posh' garbage-laden pot-holed Bath Island Hill area of Karachi, wherein reside many powerful bureaucrats of the Sindh and federal governments, alongside the Commander 5 Corps, the Inspector-General of Police and judges of the Sindh High Court, the government, some fifty years ago, in its wisdom allowed the mushrooming of a katchi abadi community, known as Taikri Colony.

On one side of this slum area run unfenced railway tracks, on another side lie two other katchi abadis next to which lies an open ground, the size of a hockey field, which has been designated as a 'playground' in the government plans and drawings. Over the years this small open space has been used by the katchi abadgars (some 25,000 now) as an all-purpose open space - there they rest, they sleep, they play games, they pray. Come this new government of Sindh with its new lot of ministers, and attempts were made to deprive the katchi abadgars of their playground.

In 2002, the government of Sindh decided it would appropriate this open space (after all, of what import is the wretched of Taikri colony?) and build thereon a couple of bungalows to accommodate the rising number of ministers and administrators. The area Nazim (UC 10 Clifton), Najmi Alam, in March 2003 filed a complaint with the provincial ombudsman, Justice Haziqul Khairi. His contention was that this plot was the only available football and playground for the Taikri residents and to deprive them of this facility would be to go against the government's declared policy of developing parks and open spaces and it would also be a violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens of Taikri colony.

Quite amazingly, and most shamefully, bureaucrat of Sindh, Tasneem Ahmed Siddiqui, DG of the Katchi Abadi Authority, during the hearing "expressed his opinion" that although the Superintending Engineer, Building Circle, had suggested that the plot should be allowed to be used by adults and children of Taikri Colony "due to its location in posh surroundings the downtrodden may feel shy to use it as playground."

When we few who have the wherewithall, who could stand up and be counted, allow ourselves to be administered by men with such mindsets, we deserve everything that is thrown at us. The people of the thousands of Taikri colonies all over Pakistan do not. They deserve our apologies.

However, City Nazim Naimatullah, Saddar Town Nazim Farooq Faria, and Najmi Alam used their persuasive powers. Naimatullah stated that "the Sindh government has every right to use this plot for any purpose they want and legally the residents have no claim, but on compassionate grounds and in the interests of the poor young players, I would recommend that bungalows may be built on some other plot.....". Faria backed him up.

Justice Khairi did right. In October 2003 he ordered that the playground be preserved for the hundreds of poor and needy and that bungalows for a handful of bureaucrats be built elsewhere in the city of Karachi.

Good. But again, why should the government of Sindh bother about an ombudsman's order? Of course it did not. The ombudsman's order was set aside, and orders for the misappropriation of the playground were issued, flowing from the governor's house, through the chief secretary's house, all the way down. Najmi Alam went to the High Court of Sindh (CP D-201 of 2003).

In November 2003, Judge Zahid Qurban Alvi ordered that the matter be properly and correctly put before the governor, that Najmi Alam and those supporting his case, be given due notice and heard.

Due notice was not given. The governor's secretariat sent out a letter dated April 27, 2004, to representative of the poor Najmi Alam, who received it three days later, summoning him to be heard by the governor on May 6. His advocate was out of Karachi, an adjournment was sought, it was not given. The Sindh government was represented by the newly arrived secretary, general administration (a dyed-in-the-wool bureaucrat rather than a champion of the poor).

The well-mannered governor, Ishrat ul Abad, held his counsel and has reserved judgment.

We live in disgust of all around us. On Friday, May 7, fourteen citizens of Pakistan were murdered, possibly at the instigation of their fellow citizens, and possibly because they held a differing view of Islam. A devout bigot was chosen to sacrifice himself and take with him as many as he could. When and where was he programmed to so do? In a mosque, whilst the Shia faithful were praying to their Maker.

e-mail: arfc@cyber.net.pk