“There have been many butchers in history…”“Hey, if you are referring to the treatment meted out to the Baloch protesters in Islamabad…”
“Nah a butcher cuts up meat, as in without life, and while the heavy, extremely heavy-handed…”
“Right, but they were protesting deaths and disappearances…”
“Yes indeed they were and this has been going on now for decades and the situation remains unresolved so can we please have an urgent revisit of the policy that has consistently failed, I mean if the feasibility study of the project The Man Who Must Remain Nameless can be put in the bin…”
“Ah yes, and Project Nawaz Sharif resurrected…”
“Right anyway, I wasn’t referring to the Baloch march when I mentioned the butchers in history.”
“How about May 12, Black Saturday, when 40 people were killed in Karachi by…”
“The men who ordered the killing are no longer with us.”
“The creator of MQM…”
“Right, but he is not with us in Pakistan, right. Anyway, when I say butcher I mean thousands of deaths, not under 50…”
“At any given time, right?”
“Right and Hitler certainly qualifies as a butcher and…and wait before you say anything, let me state for the record that a distinction has to be made between the state of Israel and the Jewish people. I mean, there is criticism of state policy by Jewish people throughout the world…”
“I guess such critics are like the Baloch – seeking a change in government policy. John Stewart, a well-known American political satirist who is Jewish, recently lamented that the state of Israel has dubbed him an anti-Semitic.”
“Indeed sad that but…”
“But that highlights an obvious fact ignored by the powers: sympathizers are not anti-state, but are simply presenting an alternate view for consideration by the decision-makers.”
“Hmmm, but you know the world never had any expectations of Netanyahu or his right wing cabinet – I mean they do not shy away from acknowledging their racist/ethnic views. It is Joe Biden who is the butcher of Gaza, a decent man with values that we support and…”
“Ironic I agree, but I guess over his long political career a pro-Israel policy, whatever atrocities the state of Israel is committing, is ingrained. Kamala Harris, the Vice President, is a lot younger and without this support ingrained in her DNA…”
“Right, but you know the Baloch policy transcends so many changes of the guard…”
“Let me quote a proverb: accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
“Right, and another is a whole stack of memories never equal one little hope.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023