OPEN LETTER TO ALL CMs, IsGP & DG Rangers Karachi

Pillion Riding and Target Killing 

Four men riding two motor bikes struck again and killed five persons in Nazimabad, Karachi today.  Was it a target killing, a sectarian killing by some religious extremists or just a terrorists’ act?  Whatever it was, it was horrendous to say the least. However, our leaders and commanders will pay the perfunctory lip service to the dead, attend the routine funeral prayer (if they find time) and announce some Death Toll money for the family and feel pretty complacent to have done their job.  The same catastrophe shall befall again after some time at some other place and the same routine shall for certain be followed by our LEAs, commanders and rulers.

Don’t they know or is it some rocket science which they cannot comprehend that 99.9 per cent of all target killing is done by the killers riding a motorbike? And don’t they know that it is always two of them riding together, one doing the shooting and the other driving the bike?  Don’t they know that a motorbike is a small, handy and extremely maneuverable vehicle and the killers weave their way through the heavy traffic and vanish in the nearby streets/bye lanes easily never to be tracked down like scores of them before?  

Why can’t they just understand this simple fact and ban the Pillion Riding in the cities where required?  I know it would cause some hardship to commuters and probably our political rulers just for the fear of losing some vote bank do not want to impose this ban.  Therefore, and in order to ease it to some extent upon the commuters children under 12 and the ladies without veils could be exempted from such a ban. (Without veil or else the terrorists could use burqa). Only two male adults should not be allowed to ride together on a bike.  As I said it will cause inconvenience to some and quite an uproar could come about from the commuters, but at times one has to take a bitter pill to eradicate the bigger menace. 

For the information of all during the pre-partitioned and early days of Pakistan ‘doubling’ on even a bicycle was an offence and strictly enforced too. None raised ever any objection to it. So, my dear law enforcing whiz kids, ban the pillion riding and save many a family from becoming a destitute. You ban it anyway on certain religious and other occasions.  Why not do it for good?  Life is much more precious and important than the pillion riding convenience afforded to a few.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)