THIS is with reference to the report ‘Zara murder case: Father says his daughter was killed over jealousy’ (Nov 18). The brutal murder of Zara Bibi, a young pregnant woman in Punjab’s Daska city, by her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and other accomplices is beyond imagination. How can so many people be so cruel? How can they clip off the head of a poor pregnant woman and dismember her body? Does this count as an act of ignorance, illiteracy or barbaria-nism? Did anyone, including the other sisters of the deceased’s husband, close relatives of the murderers living in the vicinity and the van driver who grabbed Rs70,000 for disposing of the pieces of her body in a nearby nullah, even try to knock some sense into these monsters?

This brutal murder has left so many questions unanswered. It reflects extremism, hatred, jealousy, economic problems and, above all, the absence of the rule of law. People, who have been economically suppressed, seem to have forgone moral values. This horrific murder depicts how much our character and personality as a nation have deteriorated.

It is a pity that our parliamentarians are not even concerned about the incident. They are not interested in curbing these acts of inhumanity in society. They are busy minting money and prioritising their own interests. One wonders when the rule of law will prevail and when we will be taken as a worthy nation by the world.

Farrukh Kemall
Ottawa, Canada

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2024