“A girl mourned beside her mother’s body at a Karachi hospital mortuary. Officials said the deadly stampede reflected the desperation of the poor to take advantage of donors’ charitable gifts during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.” (Fareed Khan/Associated Press)
By B. R. Gowani
President is billionaire
Main opponent, twice in power, also a billionaire
The ruling clique is bloody rich
Country has nuclear weapons
Additionally, the world’s Master is kind
And provides the protective shelter
In this country’s biggest city
A kindly man was distributing:
Not Cars
Not Tvs
Not Computers
Nor Transistors
But … Flour
A staple food for most
So there was a long line
A chaos ensued resulting in a deadly stampede
17 women and 1 teenage girl died
Waiting in a lethal queue
Albeit, unbeknownst …
To receive flour
And make chapattis
To kill hunger of family members
Instead they got killed
In 62 years,
The ruling class has given wars,
Dismemberment of country,
Insecurity and internal chaos,
Poverty and sectarianism.
What if …
the ruling clique is
Blown away US style
With missile from the air
Or executed Taliban style
With knives, stones …
Or killed Argentine military style
By dropping from airplanes
Or putting them on fire Hindu fanatics style
By forcing kerosene down their throats
Or murdering them Israeli army style
By making them move, i.e., “the neighbor procedure”?*
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com
*One of the methods Israeli Army uses in fighting the Palestinian resistance is to kill anything that moves.