Mediawatch Desi Apr 07: Sherry Rahman, Zulfikar Bhutto and Hamid Mir

Dear Ms. Sherry Rahman: on the recent stoning to death incident in FATA you are quoted by the News saying: ""I condemn in the strongest terms the way the couple was put to death in barbaric, gruesome and uncivilised manner, as reported in the press." Sherry said any person who violated and took the law into his hands should be punished in accordance with the law and the government would not overlook any such unlawful act, said a press release. "The elected government gained a clear mandate from the people of Pakistan to create a civilised and humane society where the rights of the vulnerable sections of the society are protected," she added. She said the government would take necessary action against the culprits, so that they were punished according to the law at the earliest. "The law ministry has also taken notice of this uncivilised incident and will take the required action. There is no room in Pakistan for the people to take the law into their own hands. The Taliban laws cannot be imposed arbitrarily and all the citizens are entitled to justice under the law," she added."

Your party is in the government now. We welcome your thoughts and await the deeds.

The same issue of the News also carried this news item that said the autopsy performed on the couple found the couple were not stoned to death but shot. The real issue is to bring to justice those who "ordered" the couple killed and "those" who carried it out in violation of the laws of Pakistan.

Hamid Mir in his column today makes a veiled defense of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, by sayings Bhutto Sr.'s "opponents" claim that he was responsible for the break up of Pakistan.

This is a murky debate. The seeds of separation were perhaps sowed when in 1948 at the Paltan Maidan, Dacca, Quaid e Azam declared Urdu to be the national language of Pakistan. Subsequent administrations economically milked the eastern wing. The Bengali grievances against the west had accumulated merit also.

Bhutto was a brilliant man and he shall be remembered for many good deeds: the constitution of 1973 being the prime one.

But Zulfikar Ali Bhutto shall also be remembered by history as pushing the final nail in the coffin of Pakistan then - Hamid Mir's thin attempt to rewrite history notwithstanding.