A robber being beaten by the mob before he was burned to death.

If the current plethora of crises wasn’t enough, Pakistan is now facing a new problem altogether: mob justice. In the past week alone, there have been three instances of the frustrated and enraged masses taking the law into their own hands. In two incidents in Karachi this week, one of which took place yesterday, alleged robbers were burned alive by the mob. Last month, a Hindu worker was lynched to death by a mob in Karachi.

However, its not just that the masses are angry at those who are trying to deprive them of their belongings. This points to much bigger problems at hand. Firstly, that the people have completely lost faith in the justice system. After all, this is the country where the highest legal authority was dragged by his hair by the police, and then kept under house arrest for months on end. Secondly, the masses are angry. To name a few problems, there is increasing inflation, incessant power cuts, and a food crisis that has threatened to plunge the country into anarchy.

There are many solutions to the issues I’ve mentioned above. The government too, is aware of them. But the real question here is, will they do anything about it? Only time will tell.