LAHORE: On December 3, an 18-year old student was killed in Karachi after accidentally hitting a motorcyclist with his Mercedes and driving away from the scene by the associates of the motorcyclist who killed him after chasing him in a jeep numbered BC 9868 whose tax was not paid since June 2004.
Similarly, a 15-year old was killed by Mustafa Konjo, the son of a former foreign minister who shot the teenager following a road accident.
Previously, in 2014, a young student named Suleman Lashari was killed by the son of a Police SSP accompanied by five policemen following a raid at Lashari’s home in DHA. Also in 2014, a motorcyclist was shot dead by the guards of a former prime minister, when he could not get aside in time.
In May 2017, former Sindh local government secretary’s son crushed to death a motorcyclist near Clifton with his unregistered car.
The case that attracted the most media attention, however, was that of Shahrukh Jatoi and Shahzeb Khan who was the son of a Police DSP. As a result of the pressure exerted by the media, Shahrukh was sentenced to death. His death sentence, however, was revoked by the court recently after the culprit was aided by the Qisas Law. This was followed by backlash on social media where users blamed the justice system for setting free a murderer.
The family of Shahzeb Khan had already forgiven Shahrukh Jatoi. Now if terror charges are dropped he will soon be a free man as under are laws you can pardon a person found guilty of murder but not if found guilty of terrorism. https://t.co/hGuTr0xfIE
— M. Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) November 28, 2017
Shahzeb Khan was killed by Shahrukh Jatoi, Siraj Talpur on 24-12-12; killers were arrested afterwards, brought to ATC in January 2013, hearings in Supreme Court and then sentenced to death on 07-06-13. Now SHC sets aside death punishment, he’ll be free soon. Injustice.
— Shahbaz Zahid (@shahbazzahid) November 28, 2017
A common element between the cases is the manipulation of the legal system to save the killers. This is due to the high level of corruption prevalent in the country and the loopholes in the justice system.
Another thing that facilitates these rich kids is their accessibility to weapons and fake licenses. While most of the weapons and vehicles used in such cases are unregistered, there is no shortage of means to get fake licenses and registration plates in the country.
