In Pakistan, you can get away with murder

There's this law of compensation in Pakistan which allows you to kill (or get killed) anyone in the country and get away with it. Let's say that you're one of those feudals who have been brought up to believe that they're above the law. Let's assume that your father is already a very old man and refuses to die, and you want all his wealth but he won't give it to you. You can't kill him yourself, but you ask one of your servants to do it. After the murder, you catch the servant with blood on his hands, hand him over to the police and before the matter is brought before the judge, you forgive the man. The servant is released, and everyone is happy (including your brothers, if you have any-sisters don't matter, because they've already been married off to the holy book and can't even think of marrying a man). Yesterday's death sentence to the killer of Salman Taseer is meaningless, because the dead man's son is already in the custody of the militants, who will ask him and his family to forgive the killer or they'll kill him (the son). Since the law allows such a thing, the killer will walk away a free man and Taseer's son will be released (although this is not certain, he could be released after paying a huge ransom).