As appeared in Daily Jang today

Like every year, Cricket World Cup comes with a lot of frenzy and pizzazz. For Pakistanis specifically, cricket is by and large the most favorite sport of all ages; in short we are a bunch of diehard cricket fans and even much more so since the victory in 1992.

When something sells, everyone flocks to be associated with it and of course, the brands will not stay behind. For some years now, during the Cricket World Cup time, we get campaigns specifically to encash the affiliation and inflame patriotism for the country. There are brands, which directly relate themselves to the Pakistani team, while others simply joyride on the frenzy that ensues.

The first one to pop the bubble this year was Coke, who have been quite aggressive with their Cricket frenzy in Pakistani spirit for some time. Pepsi of course, would not be left behind and came up with a recent ad, which shows the Pakistani team having some fun in the airport.

Oh wait, doesn’t this look familiar? I trawled around the web just to search what was up and here’s what I found:

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Disclaimer: Considering this story in mind, please dont bug me if the people behind this ad. are not reliable. Its shared here purely in the context of photoblog and the way innovative minds advertise their services in Karachi, a city well known as Business hub in Pakistan.

Unconfirmed reports suggest some unknown assailants torched Faisal Raza Abidi’s son (PPP Karachi) along with a guard near Al Asif Square a while ago. The condition of both the men is said to be critical. More soon . . .

UPDATE 6:46: It is not Faisal’s son, it is guard’s son. Source [KMB commentator]
[image:DAWN]

A blast was heard near PIDC a while ago. Friends from nearby localities have said they heard a very huge blast. Geo reports “A powerful blast in CID building near PIDC has rocked the buildings in the surrounding area. The powerful blast brought down the whole building of Central Investigation Department (CID) located in the most sensitive area in the central area of the metropolis. A powerful shock wave released by the blast also shattered windowpanes of a number of surrounding buildings”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MeJI6iLEq4[/youtube]

No doubt, Cowasjee is spot on. Lately, everyone in this land of “pure” from truck driver to the Elite, is worried about Aafia Siddiqui. No one is bothered (let alone questioning) about the 2 million $ (around 17 caror rupees) wasted for a useless cause. Since emotions have always overtaken wisdom in our country, MQM seeing the time “Right”, recently organized a big rally for Aafia so it doesn’t waste an opportunity to wash its own hands in behti ganga oblivious to the fact that it exposes their “ani-Talibanisation” rhetoric. One was not expecting them to fall in line too and take “populist” approach but nevertheless they are also part of the overall “Political Package” and a political analyst shouldn’t be surprised at all. Pakistan media is successfully leading the herd. A disappointed fellow SMS me that why PAK media inst presenting the other side of the story?. I say, you tell. Who will dare to go against the “mob”?. To top this all are some

cyber/SMS-jihadists bursting out www/texts on Aafia’s educational qualifications with a spicy touch of references to M. Bin Qasim and other super-emotional rhetoric, devoid of any rationalist analysis or factual info. My reader might ask why i dont post some info here if i see truth otherwise. The answer is : I dont want to fill pages on what is already there for the common sense to read. My point in this post is simply this: Pity on a Nation where hunger is on every street, 60% don’t have water, people are selling their children due to poverty, corruption is “National right” , inflation is touching new heights (with more coming next month), its at the brink of collapse with a “failed nation” crown and its National Agenda/Issue is a lady who had links with Al-Qaeda and Taliban. It’s no rocket science to find out what her past has been as well as her own behavior in court which resulted in the case been lost by her (one of the famous incident being where she offers “mediation” between Taliban/Al-qaeda and US gov). And my point is also this: I wonder where this hype goes when it is the matter of the other 8000 odd tortured/raped/killed in the name of honor women. Probably “ISLAM” isn’t in danger then, the rest of 8000 are not “Daughters of Islam” nor they are “Pakistan ki betiz” so its “Alright” to let those injustices happen but why would one waste an opportunity like this to cash some votes?. James Harvey’s words justify the current political environment may be:
” Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional . . . which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster “

The makeup over USA designed, Saudi-assisted, GHQ scripted, NROfied The-mockracy is, and as predicted in last elections, slowly coming off and the ugly face underneath appearing as country plunges into more uncertainty. The murder of Dr. Imran Farooq provided PML an opportunity to shake hands with MQM. This while Karachi is burning again and the circus of accusations and point scoring is ON. It is interesting that everyone (except PPP obviously) wants a change but no one wants to be blamed mainly because everyone wants this “change” for its own benefit and not the nation. “Change” itself being an alien commodity in general in our nation’s psychology the cartoon above is a good summary on Ishaq dar’s visit to 90. And this analysis by SS supplements it well. Every anti-PPP force is looking at each other to cast the first stone. PML wants MQM to end its support to Zardari in capital. MQM is googling for some “Muhibbe-watan-Generals”. The Generals waiting for the courts to make their life easy. The courts are hoping The-mocratic forces to join and bring a Constitutional change and people of PAKISTAN, while tired of the circus are a helpless, directionless herd waiting for some holy-assistance (which isnt coming and in fact reverse happening). Waiting to join this circus is former General Musharraf (the architect of this mess) and Imran Khan (his CV too good to be in politics) with JI (want to make Aafia the next PM) and JUI (5 ingulian ghee mei, always). Amid all this is PAKISTAN’s media, the circus telecast Inc. Welcome to Pakistan’s style of The-Mockracy.