It was most shocking to see on TV screens on Wednesday a video of trigger-happy Rangers mercilessly spraying an unarmed young man with bullets point blank and killing him on the spot. What was even more appalling was that the slain man was begging forgiveness but to no avail. The gruesome incident clearly indicates that the Rangers think they can kill ordinary citizens with impunity. This reaffirms the impression that they are apparently not under control of the federal government and in Karachi, perhaps, are taking a cue from target killers and other gangsters who kill citizens merely for spreading terror. They have started to act like a law unto themselves. This also provides a glaring example of the Rangers abusing their powers of 'shoot at sight orders. And the alarming thing is that one never knows how many other incidents of the sort might have occurred in the past but have gone unreported. That the entire horrible footage was captured on TV, the claim of the Rangers that they fired at him while he was committing a robbery in a park market is but a white lie. At the same time, the Rangers also gave another explanation that they pulled the trigger in order to stop him from snatching a rifle from one of the soldiers. These two contradicting versions are enough to prove that they are lying to escape criminal proceedings. However, the unanimous condemnation by the parliamentarians in the National Assembly and their demand to the Prime Minister that the accused be given exemplary punishments is absolutely justified. Investigations are underway but we know that footage is available and it explains everything in detail; the culprit should be brought to justice without delay. It is a sad reflection on the state of rule of law that incidents where security forces themselves are involved are usually hushed up. It should not happen this time around. This is a dangerous trend because it would make the law enforcement agencies think that they are above the law and can treat the public in whichever way they deem best.