The couple get as far as the next roadblock. The Rangers pull them over again, menacingly this time. "Open the boot," shouts the Ranger in charge. When the driver, piqued by yet another bothersome delay en route to his dinner party, obliges and opens the boot, he finds the dead body of a stranger, sieved with bullet holes. Pistols flash and the Rangers grab the couple. "Murder, eh?
You must be a terrorist. Come with us." When the driver protests, the Rangers demand a bribe—two lakhs, maybe three.
Of course, it's a set-up. Of course, the Rangers at the previous checkpoint had slung the cadaver into the car. But in Karachi these days there are no shortages of dead bodies. Corpses have become a new kind of currency, far more valuable than the rupee. The body of a martyr (or 'terrorist', depending on your outlook) can be redeemable for one citywide strike, while even a dead nobody can be used to scare people into paying very large bribes.
