A woman in Shiekhupura shot dead her brothers' alleged murderer in the courtroom today. She had been visiting the courts for quite some time and had no hope of seeing the murderer of her family being punished in the near future. She, therefore, decided to give the punishment to the accused herself. Some days ago, a person in Peshawar who was making a living renting cars, got swindled. A used-cars dealer rented out two of his cars for four months and then sold them off. When the real owner asked for his cars to be handed back, the used-cars dealer refused to give him back anything or pay any more rent. The owner of the cars could not get any help from the police or government, so he contacted the local Taliban, Mangal Bagh and his men. Mangal Bagh told the used-cars dealer to either bring back the two cars he stole or bring cash to pay for them. He obeyed. These, and many more such incidents, are taking place around Pakistan these days. This is all because common people cannot find justice anymore. In a country where the Chief Justice's daughter gets extra marks and there are no repercussions, what would you expect? Unless the common man gets justice easily, he will resort to other means. That could be going to Taliban or resorting to punishing the accused himself. -SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER, Peshawar, via e-mail, February 11.