In service of VVIPs
October 7, 2008 It took four minutes for Ms Sherry Rehman, Minister of Information, to come out after the presidential address to Parliament, smiles and all, to brief the media about this 'historic' address. But it took her a good four hours to come on the box to give a government version on the biggest blast in the history of Pakistan. This version, though, was a standard statement of no substance. Understandable when the priority is to please one's boss at all times, the anxious public be damned.
Even more painful were the statements of some of the lower ranking officials of government who kept claiming with glee that "no VVIP' has been hurt in the attack", as if the common people who died were lambs for slaughter. How insensitive our leaders can be to the plight of the public is simply pathetic. -DR IRFAN ZAFAR, Islamabad, via e-mail, September 25.
