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Showing posts from November, 2013

A shameful reaction

Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike earlier this month. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan wants to block NATO supplies from crossing through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in response to this particular drone strike. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hassan called Mehsud a ‘martyr’. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that anyone killed by the United States — even if it is a dog — is a martyr. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan described Mehsud’s death as “the death of all peace efforts”. This is how most political leaders of mainstream, albeit rightwing, parties reacted at the death of Pakistan’s worst enemy. All terrorists are horrible creatures, but Hakimullah Mehsud was one of the most callous terrorists this world has ever seen. However, the way our ‘leaders’ and the media (some honourable exceptions aside) reacted to Mehsud’s death was unbelievably shameful. In any other country, the