It was very much heartening to note that after taking suo moto notice of Karachi killings and hearing the case, Supreme Court of Pakistan reserved the verdict of its findings in which all stake holders of Karachi were given ample time and equal opportunity to present and defend their case. In camera briefings were also given by ISI to Supreme Court bench. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry gave some serious remarks related to failure of Sindh government in controlling crime and target killings in Karachi and that all political parties were having militant wings and were equally involved in target killings. As soon as the news of Supreme Courts judgment being reserved spread across the country, ANP started talking peace with MQM which was warmly welcomed by Rabita Committee of MQM in Karachi. MQM chief Altaf Hussain made telephone call to President Asif Ali Zardari to inquire about his health. PML (N) chief Nawaz Sharif, who left no stone unturned to expose the wrongdoings and corruption of President Asif Ali Zardari and his party, sent a flower bouquet to Zardari while he was still being examined by doctors in U.K. If this is how things were to unfold after the dreadful killings of hundreds of people in Karachi, why was suo moto taken in the first place? If the judiciary is trying to do some kind of experiment by reserving the judgment to monitor the outcome, I think judiciary is grossly mistaken. The fact is that criminals fear no one except punishment. Had the Supreme Court handed out couple of capital punishments to 'real target killers without taking into consideration their party belongings, the Supreme Court bench and the people of Karachi would have witnessed immediate and real change in the law and order situation. Target killings have stopped in Karachi for the time being. But as the DG Rangers said in his recent statement that target killers have gone underground and will surface anytime soon. If slaughter of innocent people begins once again in Karachi, the people of this country will not forgive the authorities as well as the government for their lenient behaviour towards hardcore criminals. M. RAFIQUE ZAKARIA, Karachi, September 18.