Benazir’s assassination+The curious case of two neigbours

It was around 6 in the evening that I first watched the breaking news about the bomb blast killing over 25 at Benazir’s election rally speech in Rawalpindi. After following it for some time, I briskly browsed through all the news channels which were more or less reporting the same details on that suicide bomb attack. But it was when I switched to BBC; I read the flash news about Benazir being in critical condition in a hospital in ‘Pindi. Seconds later, on Headlines Today, I first read that she has been declared dead. Needless to say, the news channels went into a tizzy. Reportedly, she had been killed by two armed militants who opened fire at her car at 6.46. It’s true why they say ‘History repeats itself’ - Liaqat Khan – Pak’s first PM was assassinated at the same place decades ago as Benazir was today – ‘Pindi.

Asma Jehangir’s was sobbing while talking to NDTV 24X7 about the incident. Her hatred for the Pak army and Musharraf in particular was quite evident. The mood in Pak – my guess – is also. At the same time she was in mourning the loss of one of “Pak’s hope”. Almost all our leaders expressed the usual ‘shock’, ‘condemnable’ and ‘cowardly act’ on the fatal attack. The sympathy and sorrow expressed is a little over-the-top in my opinion. Next thing you know, our govt. may even declare a day or two of mourning and our flags held at half mast. As my friend Jimmy rightly pointed out, Benazir is no Mother Teresa to be mourned over so much. It was during her first tenure that Punjab (Pak) based Sikh militants spread their tentacles across the border and backed the Indian separatists during the Khalistan movement. J&K too witnessed mass infiltration of Mujahideen from across the LoC. Her turning a blind eye to the Pak army and ISI backed terrorist infrastructure in the valley is but obvious.

As expected the newspapers came out screaming out

CNN-IBN has really gotten on my nerves by it's 'Light a candle' campaign for Benazir

The incident now is a freaky coincidence, given the fact that Indira and Rajiv and Zulfikar Ali and Benazir – the two most famous and popular parent and child duos of the two countries met their ends on the same way in almost identical events. The storming of the Lal Masjid earlier this year was also de ja vu to Indians following the episode as something similar had taken place in ’84 when Operation Bluestar was carried out in the Golden Temple. WAIT!! But it doesn’t stop there. Musharraf’s PCO in November was supposedly to “wipe out” extremism and remove any “interference” by the judiciary. Indira Gandhi had also imposed the same in ’75 to root out corruption and lawlessness. But the popular belief on the both side during their respective emergencies was that the leaders had done so only to save their skins and remain in power. The scenes witnessed in both countries during the “emergency” times were also similar.

P.S: In case you're wondering if this is a rip off from some news article, I wrote this on the 27th but I have posted it now because I could not access the internet till today

Stay (Faraway, so close)

Green line, Seven Eleven
You stop in
For a pack of cigarettes
You don't smoke
Don't even want to
And now check you change
Dressed up like a car crash
The wheels are turning
But you're upside down
You say when he hits you
You don't mind
Because when he hurts you
You feel alive
Is that what it is?

Red light, grey morning
You stumble
Out of a hole in the ground
A vampire or a victim
It depends on who's around
You used to stay in
To watch the adverts
You could lip synch
To the talk shows
And if you look
You look through me
And when you talk
It's not to me
And when I touch you
You don't feel a thing

If I could stay
Then the night would give you up
Stay
Then the day would keep its trust
Stay and the night would be enough
Faraway, so close
Up with the static and the radio
With satellite television
You can go anywhere
Miami, New Orleans
London, Belfast and Berlin
And if you listen
I can't call
And if you jump
You just might fall
And if you shout
I'll only hear you


If I could stay
Then the night would give you up
Stay
Then the day would keep its trust
Stay
With the demons you drowned
Stay
With the spirits I found
Stay
And the night would be enough

Three o'clock in the morning
It's quiet and there's no one around
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel runs to ground
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel hits to ground

You've got mail PMji

Kind attn : This post appeared verbatim in TheTimes Of India's Bangalore edition on 8th Dec 2007 on the edit page as one of the letters to the editor on pg. 22. 'The letter is titled PM has better things to do' although I emailed it with the same title as this blog.

Click here http://epaper.timesofindia.com to read my letter in the e-paper

With Anil Ambani and Mayawati both "dashing out" letters to the Prime Minister at the drop of a hat, one wonders if they feel the PM has nothing else to do all day but read their grievances. Agreed, the PMO's address is public information but such "dashes" from the influential (Anil has written three in 2 weeks) seem more like a show of power that they know people in high places than anything. Do they expect the PM to sit and kill competition or ban a Bollywood flick? If such trivial issues are brought to the PM's notice then we all might as well start writing about the daily commuting troubles we face.