Islamabad on New Year’s Eve should have been a simple story of people gathering for a countdown to a new chapter. Instead, what played out at Park View City was a preview of something deeper and more alarming.
Videos circulating on social media show a scene that should shame any organiser: long queues giving way to pushing and scuffles, men pelting stones at security, uprooting lamp posts and tossing benches into a water feature. Social media users allege that high entry charges did not translate into promised entertainment, sparking anger and chaos. The management’s silence, however, only adds to the discontent and leaves many questions unanswered.
Such scenes follow a heart-wrenching pattern in Pakistan whereby public events are routinely marred by poor planning and a lack of accountability, fostering an environment of fear and making ordinary citizens hesitant to participate in family-friendly functions. It also reinforces damaging stereotypes about Pakistan, skewing perceptions internationally.
And if the streets are a reflection of civil conduct, the courts are no better. In Karachi this week, social media personality Rajab Butt was physically assaulted by a group of lawyers during a bail hearing in a blasphemy-related case. A First Information Report has now been registered against more than a dozen lawyers for rioting and criminal intimidation, but the outrage did not stop there. When police acted on the FIR, lawyers reportedly stormed the local police station and later assaulted a station house officer, leading to a second case under the Pakistan Penal Code.
What presents itself as solidarity among professionals is in fact a chilling assertion that might equates right: if lawyers themselves resort to violence and then reject ordinary procedures when the law comes for them, what hope is there for the citizen who approaches the same institutions seeking justice?
That two such distinct spaces can both degenerate into scenes of violence one after another is telling. What unites them is a failure of governance compounded by a culture that tolerates public disorder until it becomes normalised.
In some countries, large New Year events require months of planning, detailed security cooperation between agencies, crowd-management training and clear lines of accountability. Pakistan, however, struggles with the consistent enforcement of event safety regulations, and the repercussions for those who breach ethical and legal standards are often insufficient. While legislative reforms are necessary and are currently being discussed in some provincial assemblies, laws alone cannot bridge the trust deficit within society.
Pakistan’s image abroad will not improve with more viral videos of chaos. What will shift perceptions (and more importantly, what will make daily life better for citizens) is a commitment to not only legislate better crowd management and event safety, but to enforce the rule of law equally, to uphold civility in public life, and to hold powerful actors accountable when they abuse the trust placed in them.
