Observer The fashion in Karachi nowadays is not to worry about target killing and violent crime menacing the city, but to worry about the scare of dealing with the Yanks in social situations. An international conference which amongst many high profile speakers, included a prominent American (whose husband has been drawing the ire of the people on behalf of his country) has been rescheduled amid 'pressures to rearrange the guest panel and is now to be set for a later date with 'an all-Pakistani speakers list. Good job on winning hearts and minds, chaps. ******* While the Prime Minister and the President are often cited to be of a different tilt of mind on almost every topic, another proof of this is in the methods they prefer to travel. The PM displaying a sense of trust, travels in the VVIP aircraft he is provided, which is partially maintained by the Air Force and the PIA. His trust must have been shaken (quite literally) when his plane, as reported, practically performed somersaults just a few minutes after taking off from Orly airport in Paris. The President is a wiser man, he always travels on commercial flights to a large central airport in the UAE, where he changes planes to board another commercial flight to his destination of choice. The baggage and the hacks follow in a special plane behind him. ******* It is 10 days now since the OBL fiasco and not a word of explanation from the khakis or the spooks or the government regarding what exactly happened in Abbottabad that day or what didnt happen for that matter. Setting aside the issue of the stealth helicopters going undetected by the air force Seal team 6 landed with a thud in Bilal Town Abbotabad when their helicopter went down. It took a further 40 minutes for the operation to be completed and for the body of OBL along with storage devices etc from the compound to be loaded into the choppers before they set off for the Afghan border. What were our forces doing in those 40 minutes? When the first chopper went down, in the middle of a city hosting a military academy, did it take 40 minutes for the khakis and spooks men on the ground to get a call through to their superiors? Maybe the neighbouring military academy should teach the cadets the skill of speed dialling as well as the proverbial snap to attention salute.