Pakistan, Feb. 1 -- Living in a society where even the smallest seat of power makes one entitled to put on a disproportionate and unjustifiable show of his force, we should have been well prepared for the unsavoury scene that unfolded in Multan. Clearly, the said police officer must have been left with no choice other than aggressively pulling a senior citizen off his motorcycle, dragging him to a side and reeling off a string of vile abuses. How dare a commoner disrupt the sanctity of a VVIP route?

While social media erupted in outrage, it underscores a pervasive culture of brutality and disregard for human dignity that has long plagued our police. Although Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz's suspension order of the concerned officer is comme...