Media Watch: Vawda’s fancy dress show

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Suhai Aziz Talpur, the police officer who actually led the operation against the terrorists who had attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi, was a bit understated in her disposition. No, this is not a comment on how women in positions of power have to dial their demeanour back in our neck of the woods, but that most in her place, men or women, would have been like that.

You see, those who actually have to deal with the unpleasantness – and unpleasantness, it is – of taking care of such situations, the ones close enough to the theatre of action to “see the whites of their eyes”, as it were, are always going to be contemplative, even after the events take place. These adults realise the gravity of such situations and know that they require both serious forethought and also some steely grit.

Those observing from the sidelines, however, have other personal insecurities that they need to attend to. Especially if they are men.

Consider the Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda.

The man was a walking-talking joke, having reached the venue with a firearm of his own. He then tucked the pistol into his pants, in a motion that he felt would have been smooth.

There is a point in every boy’s life that he realises that perhaps the makers of Die Hard have been playing fast-and-loose with their depiction of how such scenarios play out. But some boys refuse to believe this unromantic (realistic? Bah!) approach to life.

Interestingly, the only bit of realism that Vawda had incorporated into his attire somehow made him seem even more silly.

A bullet-proof vest.

The man was wearing a bullet-proof vest when he reached the stop after the situation had been resolved.