Two years back in 2007 barely two blocks away from my house a powerful explosion rocked Shahrah-e-Faisal as a suicide bomber tried to attack Benazir Bhutto’s motorcade as it made its way from Karachi airport to a massive rally being held to celebrate her return to Pakistan. We all know that she luckily had survived the attack, we all know what happened after that, we all know how she sadly succumbed to another such attack two months later in December.
Now as I see this PPP government marking its presence on the streets of Karachi today I recall the words I shared in my post back in 2007 immediately after the attack – I wrote “Thank God, Benazir Lives” – two years down I get an eerie feeling to say, I was right, that there is a business of Martyrdom in Pakistani politics, and maybe these ceremonies being held today in Karachi have nothing to do with respecting the departed, but instead I fear its a celebration.
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