There are no words to describe the despicable depths to which the country’s loathed VIP culture has sunk. On Wednesday night, the third day of Eid, a 22-year-old youth by the name of Tahir Malik was unfortunate enough to be travelling on his motorcycle with his brother behind the motorcade protecting Abdul Qadir Gilani, the son of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. What transpired was a vicious act in which a guard from the security detail opened fire at the motorcycle, shooting Tahir Malik (who had only been distributing meat to relatives) in the head and killing him on the spot. Not only this, Abdul Qadir Gilani did not even have the decency to stop his car and security right at that moment to check on the state of the motorcyclists; they sped away like common criminals. It was the brother and onlookers who took pictures of the licence plate numbers. The only reason this young lad was killed was because he was not moving out of the way of a security detail that thinks it owns the road and rude and abusive guards who force people to move aside to clear the road for their ‘masters’. There are no words to describe the gravity of this situation and the tragedy that is being faced by the family of Tahir Malik. This horrid sense of entitlement that is being flouted by almost every person with an iota of power has caused extreme inconvenience and now it has become a calamity for one family that will never see its boy again. We have all been made to wait behind barricades on the roads to let pass the movement of VIPs, we have all had our flights delayed due to the nonchalant attitude of our VIPs and now, it seems, we will all have to be on the lookout for murderers in security and police uniform. No one doubts the importance of adequate security for some key figures in government, people who have had death and kidnapping threats issued to them, but these people are answerable for the actions of their guards. It is their responsibility to ensure that their guards are trained properly, particularly those of the private security variety. If the guard who killed Tahir Malik actually did feel a threat from the boy and his motorcycle carrying raw meat, he should have fired a single shot in the air to show that he meant business. A bullet in the head as a warning shot? Really? A murder charge has been filed against Abdul Qadir Gilani and the guard has been taken into police custody. One regrets that we just do not have enough confidence in our justice system to believe that any fair play will come out of this. We must abolish this disgraceful VIP culture for the principle of the citizens’ rights and in order to feel safe. *