No one should be surprised that the Supreme Court acquitted Shahrukh Jatoi for killing Shahzeb Khan. The only surprise is that the whole thing took ten years. If it hadn't been such a high-profile case, it would have been decided in a couple of months, after the victim's parents supposedly "forgave" the killer. It was Zia ul Haque who gave us the law that allows a murderer to be forgiven.
Shahrukh, being a relative of a family of well-known politicians, got off because his father either paid some amount to the victim's family or, as appears more likely, threatened them with murder if they didn't forgive his son. This practice was prevalent in our tribal areas and even in rural communities, where normally the killer's family gave away a few of their daughters as compensation together with some money. But when it became the law of the land, it was easy to dispose of inconvenient old parents. A servant (usually a driver or cook) was told to kill the old man, the police would come and arrest the killer, who was then forgiven by the old man's children. The killer was paid a few thousand rupees, a princely amount as he was until then not paid much by the old man's family.
Before any Westerner condemns this practice, he or she should remember that in the US, it's possible to get away with murder if you can afford to hire the most expensive lawyers. Might is right, as they say.
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