The Supreme Court in an interim order correctly ruled that an attack on Joseph Colony, Badami Bagh, Lahore, was predictable and preventable. And that the Punjab police failed to protect the lives and properties of its residents, who belonged to the minority Christian community.
Let me add that the Punjab police is under the Punjab Home Department, which is headed by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, who is also the President of the PML-N.
All the parties under the banner of the ‘Muslim League’ take credit for making Pakistan in 1947; they also claim that its founding father, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was a Muslim Leaguer. But it is ironic that the leaders of all the Muslim League factions, as well as other parties, have forgotten the promises the Quaid made to the religious minorities, i.e. to protect their lives and properties.
He clearly stated that all religious minorities will have the freedom to practice their religion, customs and traditions; they will be citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste and creed. \
Keep this in mind, I suggest that the attackers of Joseph Colony and senior police officers, as well as the Chief Minister, should be tried and made an example. Indeed, failing to prevent the rights and properties of the minorities, which is their prime responsibility does not augur well. Simply suspending a few police officers will never set an example, and discourage religious and sectarian violence.
The judiciary that is the custodian of the constitution and citizens’ basic rights should not spare all those who are responsible for the crime, which has brought a bad name to Pakistan at the international level.
S.T. HUSSAIN,
Lahore, March 16.