We are well-acquainted with the misfortunate death of 10-months old Bismah on being denied entry in civil hospital merely because Bilawal was there to inaugurate the trauma centre.
It was Bilawal Bhutto this time; it could be any other notability the next. It is not the personality involved that matters but the malady of the VIP culture.
What is so important about BB’s life that was not important about Bismah’s? Furthermore, how many Bismahs would it take to put an end to as sinister and extravagant an evil as VIP culture?
The more depressing fact than the infant’s untimely demise is that it only takes a tragedy to unite our people and voice their complaints against a pre-subsisting evil. What about all those Bismahs whose deaths went unnoticed? This incident is presently in the limelight, but for how long? I am sure media would soon lose interest in it once it starts garnering low ratings. The zest and emotions of people would dull too. Would it take another Bismah to re-coax us to discourage protocol culture?
ALIZA ANEES,
Karachi, December 24.