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'National Unity and Consensus'

Minority affairs Minister in India, AR Antulay is in the midst of a media created controversy when he raised suspicion in the death of anti terrorism chief Hemant Karkare, our own opposition leader Mr. Nawaz Sharif created headaches for the government when he questioned the cordoning off of the village where the alleged Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Qasaab is reported by Indian media to hail from. AR Antulay asked why didn't Karkare with two other senior police officers travel to critical areas of terrorist activities on that fatal day like Oberoi, Taj or Narimen house and why all three senior people travelled in the same vehicle which apparently is a breach of protocol. Nawaz Sharif in the same vein has asked why the government is not allowing media to enter the village and question Ajmal Qasaab's family? Only two things can come out of it, either he does belong to that village in which case his family will explain that he has been missing for the last couple of years, if he doesn't belong to that village then there is no fear of anything. But in the first case then we do need to know why Pakistani people are being recruited for these kind of activities. These are genuine concerns by both leaders on either side of the border. Then why are they being targeted by media, more so in India then in Pakistan. In Pakistan, Minister for (mis) Information and Broadcasting Ms. Sherry Rehman has spoken and called Sharif's comments as an attack on the government when there is a need for unity and consensus. Consensus on what? Lies?

These two leaders have spoken in a domestic environment of 'apparent consensus', they are brave because they have broken the myth of national unity. These are questions that people are asking, the very same people who would be the most affected if there was to be a war between both countries. People who want to bury this 'incident' and move on to more serious matter of 'living' a life. It has caught the imagination of the government but not of people who are experiencing 10-12 hours of power cuts in a day, these shortages have driven them out of work and taken their meager earnings away, people who live in canvas covered tents which in heavy rains become flooded and they have to spend all night trying to drain their huts. For these people none of this matters but these are the people most affected by these incidents. Because it means building a bigger arsenal of weapons to fight enemies, it means more government trips to gather support, it means a bigger burden on our economy and less expenditure on social development. It means more poverty, less resources to feed children and more children ending up in the clutches of extremist elements. And all this because we, who can, did not ask the right questions! we supported lies instead of truth because we had to uphold the pretext of 'national unity and consensus'!

Comments

very cool chooja!!
i wish i was taking english you could have written my essays!!
the best part?????????
(mis) information minister
lol!!
مایون said…
Thank you Arifa. I am so happy you read the post and left a comment.

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