KARACHI: An angry mob severely beat up and then set on fire two robbers in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan. One of the victims died after reaching hospital while the other is stated to be in critical condition.
This is the second incident with in a week in Karachi when four days back three robbers were set on fire who later died.
Witnesses said the robbers were looting a bus when they were caught while fleeing. The mob then fell upon the robbers and after giving them a severe beating, set them on fire. This brutal episode took place in broad daylight.
This image from an incident earlier this week shows a mob around three thieves who were set on fire after being caught red handed.
Karachi’s worsening law and order situation has forced frustrated people to take law into their own hands. Daily 50-60 mobile phones are snatched at gun point and robbers do not hesitate to kill someone for a mere Rs.1000 ($15) mobile phone.
Armed dacoity, car snatching, kidnapping and arson e.t.c are some of the other menaces.
A senior police officer said on condition of anonymity this was a dangerous trend. He warned that people with enmity could torch their enemies claiming they were robbers. One should control this situation, he said.
An eyewitness of the current incident said:
Some older people tried to rescue the two robbers but in vain. A driver of the Chhipa ambulance service was also met with punches and kicks when he tried to intervene. Two policemen of the Muhafiz Force also tried to stop the violence but the mob snatched their guns and gave them a serious thrashing.
According to a psychiatrist Dr Haroon Ahmed:
It is the psyche of a human being that if he’s pushed to the wall, he can react in an unexpected manner. The people of Pakistan in general and this city in particular are in a state of mind where they feel insecure and under-privileged.
Saying that there was no justification for brutal acts such as these, Dr Ahmed pointed out that the situation could not be reversed through the implementation of the existing laws, which treated people in different classes: the poor and the privileged.
2 responses so far
1 anokie ~ May 18, 2008 at 11:34 am
a terrible illustration of the ‘mob mentality’. what one person alone, or in small groups of two or three would consider unthinkable, becomes acceptable in the relative anonymity of a mob. A dehumanizing variation of ‘everyone is doing it so that makes it ok and makes me less guilty because I was only one small part of the mob’. everyone would understand ‘enough is enough’, but as a message to thieves, wouldn’t it have been sufficient to ‘rough them up’ a bit, then turn them over to the law? or put them on public display with a sign or signs stating something to the effect that ‘this is a thief caught in the act’ to publicly humiliate them, then let the law have them. An angry mob’s version of ‘justice’ is an uncivilized expression of uncontrolled brutality that robs each participant of a bit of humanity and leaves a lifetime of living with the shame in it’s wake. One more example of ‘man’s inhumanity towards man’. In the photograph, the dead men were thieves, the living men murdered the dead men. Which ones will suffer any long-term effects of their actions.
2 Kiyani ~ May 18, 2008 at 11:51 pm
This happens in societies where there is no rule of law and might is right. It’s the growing frustration due to insecurity that has forced people to take law in their own hands.
What they are doing is not right and to stop it the only long term measure is to enforce law for all people whether rich or poor.
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