WHILE the death of Rehman Baloch, commonly called Rehman Dacoit, would bring relief to those who have suffered at his hands or were living in dread of his exploits, the manner of his death, by police encounter, would raise eyebrows. In the eyes of many, it is hard to differentiate between target killing and death by encounter. The question is that if the law enforcement agencies knew that he had been ruling the roost in Karachi's Lyari area, committing crimes freely for years, why they did not act to stop his activities and try him in a court of law. Interestingly, he is reported to have escaped from police custody on several occasions although he was involved not only in robberies but also in the commission of a large number of other crimes and the Sindh government had put Rs 5 million on his head. The law and order situation in the country as a whole continues to be dismal, and Karachi, the hub of industry and commerce, gets the cake. Hundreds have died as a result of target killing by rival groups there in recent months. On the other hand, though global economy is showing signs of picking up, we have not been able to show any recovery despite heavy injection of money from outside. Somehow, our leadership has so far failed to appreciate the connection between crime and economy. Otherwise, it would have paid the utmost attention to improving the law and order situation. Would that the death of Rehman Dacoit ginger it up