As you sow, so shall you reap

Little over a decade and a half ago, a suicide bomber assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. I vividly remember one Sinhalese student at that time telling me in an acidulated voice about how they have this saying in Sri Lanka that can be summarized as follows - if you feed a snake it is apt to bite you in the end. She was referring to Rajiv Gandhi's support for LTTE and its subsequent withdrawal finally culmunating in his assassination by an LTTE suicide bomber. I was shocked at that time. How could someone be so uncharitable? It is a convention that if one is unable to praise the dead one should at least avoid censure.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated a few days ago in Pakistan and my first reaction was how sad. A little later the reaction set in. I now realize that the reaction from the Sinhalese student made sense in a perverse way. This is not to justify my uncharitable thought. It is my thought right now.

Almost all Pakistani political leaders typically follow a policy that can be summed by a saying - To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. In a way Benazir Bhutto's assassination is a logical denouement; the proverbial chicken coming home to roost. For over two decade Pakistan has been been involved in a proxy war using religion as a strategic tool. It has had the tacit approval of all political leader regardless of their public utterances.

Well the creation has now fully come of age. The snake that used to dance to the piper's tune so well initially has realized that it no longer needs to obey the master. It now dances to a tune of its own.

May be some good could come from this. India lost two Prime Ministers to assassination; Mother and Son. Both of them were done in by creations of their own making. This I think lead to certain healthy introspection in India. Last week's event could lead to a maturing of body politic in Pakistan.