MANY societies have fictional ‘superheroes’ but our craving for real-life ones, even where a bit of embellishment delivers one better, a martyr, appears without a parallel.

Who in Pakistan hasn’t lamented the utter disregard for law almost on a daily basis? But can taking the law into one’s own hands for a perceived good be justified; and if so how long before we condone and even laud violent vigilantism?

A video that went viral on the social media some weeks ago, where two politicians including a former interior minister were shown being ejected from a PIA plane for ostensibly delaying the flight for several hours, is a good case in point.

As an organisation which is under siege for extremely poor performance and whose carcass’s choicest bits are now attracting vultures, PIA’s response expectedly didn’t shed much light on the facts of the incident. In fact, it muddied the water further.

Yes, I hate the so-called VIP culture. I hate it because it allows roads to be blocked for dignitaries, who could as easily use helicopters to reach their destinations, in the name of security. I hate it because many of us are bereft of civic sense to make way for ambulances carrying the very ill to hospital.

We feel no need to reflect on what our individual contribution is towards the mess we are in today.

Those who have travelled to societies with a bit more order than ours would testify how even when traffic is at a standstill every driver makes an effort, manoeuvres at impossible angles, to give way to emergency vehicles.

But, of course, we reserve the choicest insults and abuse for the so-called VIP and, perhaps because we have a convenient target for our wrath, feel no need to reflect on what our individual contribution may be towards the mess we are in today.

That’s a larger debate so let’s focus on the PIA plane delay saga. I must be honest and say my own reaction was very positive towards the passengers’ intervention. A brutal lesson delivered to the VIPs and a debilitating blow to the VIP culture, I thought.

A tad more cool-headed reflection later and I found myself asking many questions that the initial emotional response had not considered. Was it that the flight was delayed by PIA for a technical fault and only the VIPs informed and not all passengers?

And if that was the case, were the passengers correct in targeting the known public figures when their ire was better-directed at the airline? Or were they correct in venting their anger at the VIPs who, packed enough clout, to delay a flight for (I have read) over two hours?

And would a videoed admonishment have served the purpose rather than vigilantism which saw some passengers acting as would a captain in command of the aircraft in deciding who could and who couldn’t fly on board?

At a foreign airport, no matter how valid and well-founded the passengers’ anger, similar action would have got them into serious trouble with the law. Aviation safety is taken very seriously as is the command of a passenger airliner.

And the story doesn’t end there. As a report in this paper a couple of days ago suggested, one of the passengers who took part in the ‘direct action’ on board that delayed PIA flight was let go by his private-sector employer.

Although the employer was at great pains to explain that the decision was based purely on merit and performance evaluation, nobody was prepared to believe it had nothing to do with the plane saga. There were accusations galore that the former minister belonging to the PPP was responsible.

As these lines were being written the former minister’s letter to the Senate chairman has been made public in which he requests an inquiry into the matter as, he says, his name is being mentioned unnecessarily in this issue and he was being defamed when he had nothing to do with the firing.

Will we ever know the whole truth or even be in a position to ascertain the facts? I seriously doubt it. We find shooting from the hip far more convenient as it is easy and doesn’t take great effort or investigation. We have a villain; we have a hero and, even better, a potential martyr.

We haven’t even bothered to ask the person concerned what his thoughts are. But what he wants or doesn’t want is immaterial. We have what we so desperately want. Shouldn’t that be enough? What if facts were to suggest otherwise?

Before I get too precious about facts, it is my turn to eat humble pie. Last week, I was guilty of doing exactly what I am lamenting: not cross-checking my facts. Being aware of the new DG ISI’s family ties to Quetta, I used information in my column (ignoring the two/three

source rule) suggesting his father was once in the police and served in Awaran and Mashkey in Balochistan.

I should have confirmed it with multiple sources. I didn’t. His father was in the air force and never served in Mashkey, Balochistan. This is for the record.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, October 4th , 2014