Oh Karachi!

Benazir what have you done?
Don't make a joke of the poor!
You talk of the poor. But what have you done with them. What have you given them? Hundreds cut into half and hundreds more maimed with hands or legs amputated. You and the rich are safe and fine but the hundreds of poor and scores of poorer policemen have died. Wish you had been less selfish.
You made the job of security impossible...
You were told to delay, to be careful. You had lost your own brother in your own regime. Have you forgotten that? With your foolhardiness and bravado, you made the job of the security impossible. Thanks to the security arrangements you are at least alive. The poor have died though.
Blame game won't help... it is in bad taste.
Your husband, Sheri Rahman and the irresponsible media lost no time in blaming the government. Yes they could have done more, probably. But it is always easy to be wise after the event. But in such sad moments the blame game was not in good taste. As a neutral observer I wonder what more could the government have done? PPP had an absolute free hand to do any thing. They did. They put up a fabulous show with total disregard to the inconvenience to the local traffic and local residents of Karachi. They were all inconvenienced.
It was impossible to see the carnage right in front of you...
It took me time to overcome this shock. It all happened right in front of me. There is no way I could describe my feelings. I could not even watch. Any way our blog does not write what you must have already read in the newspapers and seen on TV etc. The whole thing has been sordid and such a huge tragedy.
The living without limbs is more difficult...
My heart goes out to all those killed and more for those injured. They have to live with the injuries, disfigurement and loss of limbs etc. I wish I could do something for them. I am at my own level.
Is media scared of the PPP? Why don't you speak the truth?
We are going to talk about things the media has ignored either deliberately, under threat or bribe, I do not know. But the fact remains, media in Pakistan does show restraint when it comes to Benazir and PPP while their guns go blazing against the President. They are so brave against him. That is very good. But why are you so one sided? Be brave against the PPP too. Particularly Geo - Kamran Khan, ARY - Kashif Abbasi, Aaj, Dr. Danish in TVOne are all guilty of fear. Why don't you speak the truth?
Benazir's accusations are not well founded...
Benazir should know she was not in Dubai but Karachi where power cuts is a daily phenomenon. She complains of lights going off at dusk. A very shallow accusation. At 12:00 midnight she was not supposed to be there. Why did she not adhere to a program? At that time, after all her program, she was supposed to have been at home. The conditions were definitely not good, why did you hang on there at great risk. You escaped but the poor died.
Had you stuck to a program you could have saved lives and the suffering of poor...
You ought to have briefly made a presence on the road, gone straight to Mazar-e-Qaed made your passionate address, made your point, pleased your followers and gone home comfortably. Instead you chose the "Tamasha" fanfare. Your truck was just not able to move. When could you have reached the place, made the address and gone home? What was the program? The more time you were on the road the people were so much at risk. Had you cared for the poor, their suffering for the past three days, you would not have done this.
According to experts there were no more than 100,000 people...
One wonders how many people were there? Benazir says 30,00,000. Did she calculate? No. Just an idea. It is not too difficult to calculate. Just count the busses that arrived from the interior, count trucks, cars or whatever mode of transport. I am a media man and a marketing man I can easily estimate. As a marketing man, figures are most important, I can very roughly calculate the number of people present. As a media man I know how a few can be shown to be many. All TV personnel will testify to this. There were no more than 75,000 to 100,000 people.
The poor PPP supporters had no transport to go back nor were they paid...
What is the plight of those that were brought in by PPP leaders from interior villages and small and big towns. They were promised money. Lots of them have complained that they have been left high and dry on the streets and did not even have the transport to go back and did not have money to go by public transport. They were obliged to borrow money from locals in Karachi to go back. So much for the poor the lady talks about.

Don't forget you have failed not once but twice and twice you have been removed on charges of corruption and misrule. Your party members call you "Mothorama" meaning respected. Surprisingly media follows suit as if it is some official title. But can you call one who is accused of such rampant corruption as respected?

P.S.
There is a perception in political circles that this sordid carnage, if any thing, has only helped Benazir. Sympathy has grown, increased her vote bank while herself and the top PPP leadership has come out unscathed. The propounders of conspiracy theories see a lot of planning in it and think every thing has gone exactly as per plan. Just ten minutes before she was moved to safety. The blast was just far enough not to cause casualty to the leadership. Some people see conspiracy in this although the author does not contribute to conspiracy theories.