Sindhi Hindi bhai bhai

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“Second Bhutto to be sent from Punjab to Sindh in a coffin onboard a PAF C-130,” said Boss, as he switched channels “showing nothing but Benazir this and Benazir’s family that”. And then, “One would think she was Mother Teresa, the way everybody is going on about things,” he said, “It seems it is not just Pakistan which is the jagir of the Bhutto family.” I have no time for all this. My dosa is buttered by the rich Sindhi clientele from all over the world who have been hanging in and around Delhi lately, marriage-NRI season and all that. Besides, how many times can one see video grabs of brave PPP cadre beating the life out of refrigerators on the streets of Karachi?

No problem, if democracy in Pakistan means that the Oxbridge accented next generation shall inherit the scorched earth, then so be it. We have learnt in India that this does not get too far, though. There is always enough external talent available in politics, just like in making dosas and idlis. Or ruling Gujarat and winning elections in Himachal. But it looks like our perception builders are supporting all this, and probably just because they went to the same Oxbridge debating societies. Many of these are people, incidentally, who would even now not support the Liberation of Bangladesh. But that is another column, somewhere else.

The facts? The way I see it, and I have discussed this across generations with troops passing through Delhi—the Bhutto clan as well as their counterparts in India are responsible for wastage all over the subcontinent. Lakhs of human deaths, for one. Tension on the borders, for another. And certainly much of the problem about Kashmir. And what they hear, is this, “Pakistan ko iss baar phir todenge, lekin ubb kee baar, Punjab ko nahin chhodenge” (We will split Pakistan again, but this time we will not spare Punjab).