Come Bakar Eid, goes the local proverb, even the tailors start sharpening their knives.
Well, even the peaceniks amongst our talking heads on TV start taking a hawkish tone towards India whenever tensions are rife between the two countries. It simply makes business sense. And for some, even if economics weren’t an issue, a bit of chest-thumping nationalism at times likes these is useful for a “cleanse.” Useful for establishing one’s credentials as a patriot.
Now “Dr” Amir Liaqat isn’t much of a dove at the best of times. And given his recent affiliation with the MQM, and Altaf Hussain’s subsequentmurdabad speeches, the religious showman is in dire need for some good, old-fashioned jingoism. His Bollywood histrionics when announcing his resignation from the party didn’t quite make the cut.
He got his wish on Asma Sherazi’s show on Aaj TV (link below for online readers) when he started a shouting match against the Indian guest.
http://www.zemtv.com/2016/10/06/kab-tak-shanti-se-sune-ghar-me-shanti-ko-sunao-amir-liaquat-bashin/
This video has been shared gleefully online by rightist video aggregator ZemTV (which till recently was sharing videos against him) and had writtenAamir Liaqat ne mehfil loot li; Bhaarti ki chup kara dia; Dil khush kar diawhile sharing it.
‘Tis the season of war. The knives are out.
(Post-script: though the local quote mentioned in the beginning was rhetorical, I also know a literal case of a tailor friend of mine who moonlights as a butcher on Eid. This information bears no relevance to the piece above but I might have fallen ill had I not gotten it out of my system.)
