Strange are the people and stranger are their hopes. Unfinished are our expectations. An old man, grief-stricken, mourns the death of his jobless son, in a tormented song of loss, “Oh Zardari, where are you?” The young man Raja Rind (his name means king) set himself ablaze on 24 Oct, killing himself in front of parliament lodges. He was unemployed, wished to get a job, told his father that the MNA of his area and Zardari would get him a job. He waited and waited, though fruitless it was, till in despair he turned his face on this world and on the people. He understood but his father did not. He cried, “Oh Zadari, where are you?” Raja died the day his wife gave birth to a son. In Tunis, such a case led to people’s protest and the government was overthrown. But those were people and we stones. We are unmoved. I just pray that his son has a better life.
UMAR KHAN DAWAR
Lahore
