Shootouts on a rising curve

NAMES of three more persons, two alleged kidnappers and a robber, have been added to the list of victims of so-called 'shootout' with the law-enforcing agencies on Monday. The police's narratives on the circumstances of the shootouts have an eerily familiar ring to them. About the chain of events leading to the killing of the alleged kidnapper Wasim, for instance, his  wife and the police predictably told two different stories.   
It defies common sense why the law-enforcers always have to resort to firing shots only in self-defence and invariably fail to protect the accused from being killed. Such failures reflect poorly on professionalism in law enforcement on the one hand and the government's upholding of the rule of law on the other.
With these latest killings, a total of 43 people have become the victims of extrajudicial murders in the last two months alone.   
A report published by the human rights watchdog Ain-o-Salish Kendra (ASK)  shows that in 2012 the number of shootout-related deaths declined to as low as 91 from 229 in 2009. It again rose to 208 in last year. Given the last two months' figure, the trend appears to be again on the rise, and apparently with a vengeance.  
Serious concerns have been raised within and outside the country by the human rights bodies, civil society groups and the media over these extrajudicial killings.
We believe even the worst kind of offender is entitled to be put through due process of law. This is what is meant by the rule of law. The government must act decisively to put a stop to such incidents, whatever euphemism the law-enforcers may find useful to explain their action.
These incidents are damaging the government's image regarding its human rights record irreparably. It mut act decisively to stop these murders by shootout.