The world has changed. The rules have changed. Why should it come as a surprise to anyone, we knew change was inevitable. The word is mobocracy. The origin is in Greek, Ochlocracy, and meaning government by a mob or the masses. As a pejorative for majoritarianism, it's akin to the Latin phrase "mobile vulgus" meaning "the easily moveable crowd." Sounds like democracy but it is millions of miles apart as far as the meanings are concerned. This one means that the mob rules or is the ruling class. Might is right, in other words. Quite different to what values I am trying to instil in my children. A person or people who follow this doctrine are called, obviously so, mobocrats Finally, if you are a true patriotic follower then you are a mobocratic individual. What is mobocracy and mobocratic people doing in Pakistan, one is ashamed to wonder. A few weeks back I was shown a video by some students doing research work on Honour Killing in Sindh and other parts of Pakistan. The video was not from Pakistan, but from Iraq. In it, a young woman, about eighteen years old, was stoned to death by a mob of more than a hundred people. Allegedly the young man she had married out of choice had taken a back seat and left the city. Still alive, men chanting threw two boulders, one to break her back and the other on her head to finally bring the killing to an end. Not satisfied, the mob carried the half-naked woman's body to burn it. Mobocarcy at its best or worst. No wonder when I speak to a person who is not from here, about our religion of peace, it is difficult to justify my words. I nibble away into a monologue and leave it trailing in an abyss. After watching the video, I told the research group something that was dismantled two weeks later. That we do not do this in Pakistan. At least not so brutally and not in cities. Brothers, fathers or cousins will stealthily walk the night and kill the girl who may be a sister or a daughter, albeit the fact that she has brought comfort to an aching heart many a times. Who has climbed trees to get mangoes for you. Who has been there for you. Now that she wants a voice of her own, it is too much for your ego, the social pressure mounting that you find it easier to kill her and let the voice die forever. Mobocracy is about six and a half inches different to honour killing. This is about the mob, a very angry mob that set three dacoits on fire in Ranchoor Lines, Karachi. As usual, as the word is sadly stated here, because in a civil society, the authorities not reaching such an incident should not be usual, but it so happened that the bodies were burnt and the mob, defiant, angry and in control chanted slogans and went their way. Did they sleep it off by drinking that night? Or smoking pot? Or saying their prayers and telling God "you know I did the right thing, dear God" or maybe just took a long shower, ate dinner, played with their children and watched some TV. One of these must have happened if nothing else. For those who are wondering where their conscience was, the question can be reversed and stated, where was the state? Where is the state when a lunatic climbs high-tension wires? Where is the state when a woman takes her two children and stands on a train track to die. Where is the state when a loving father and officer is hugged by death gratis a suicide bomber. What this mob signifies is a simple question. Where is the state? And if the state is not going to turn up somewhere where it should, then mobocrats are going to multiply like suicide bombers did. I am not justifying the act but I am acknowledging the frustration that runs deeps inside the people of Pakistan. They have little if anything to live for. There is food shortage, water shortage, electricity that's become expensive along with load shedding starting from a low bid of six hours to a high bid of God-I cannot-even say the number Justice delayed is justice denied. Justice itself is being held hostage. Mob rule is not an acceptable rule at all. The authorities are not only denying this horrendous act they are also not reading into what is to come next. The Greek Polybius the term as a "pathological" version of popular rule in opposition to the "good" version, which is democracy. Whether or not the decisions enforced by the mob are good or bad is another matter entirely. The threat of mob rule is enough and should be a warning defiant enough for the state, which is busy getting together drunkards, pimps and cheaters to become part of the government. This is not what the people of Pakistan voted for. They voted for freedom, for justice, for health and education. For democracy in its pure form. Let not this be a junction where we stoop our shoulders and shuffle our feet and let the moment pass. Pakistan is not a stopgap for opportunists. Let this be known through the voices of the masses. Let mobocracy be a warning, and a stomach turning warning at that, so we can turn the attention of the state to matters that need attention. Mr Gilani, can you please wake up to reality? E-mail:aaakn92@gmail.com