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02:55 AM
Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
April 15, 2014
If there is a surfeit of any commodity it is deplorability. It comes in all sizes, shapes and has a soapy texture to it which washes away all sins of omission and commission.
Last week President Obama deplored the violence in Syria. A few days later 227 Indian political candidates deplored their competitors. The west, in general, deplored the crumbling of Ukraine, not that most of the world has a clue where it is.
A couple of days ago UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored recent deadly terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including the bombing of a market in the capital city of Islamabad. He deplored it in no uncertain terms. In fact, he was unconditional in his deploring. As deplorers go, the UN Secretary General, by the very nature of his job, is a big user of deploration, if there is such a word which I think not, but we can coin it. After all, it does fit.
The reason for all this deploring is that there is nothing else he can do. He cannot send in troops, he cannot tell the White House to intervene, he cannot even tell David Cameron where to get off and Chinese don’t really care while the Japanese think the UN is a perfect backdrop for taking pictures whenever they visit the Big Apple.
Deploring doesn’t do Diddley. We are, as a people in this day and age, tired of deploring. It is time that the so called leaders of the peace and prosperity brigade woke up and realized it. Stop with the deploring and start with the action.
Ban extended "his deep condolences" to the families of the victims and the government of Pakistan, it added. Condolences are actually cold comfort.
At least 20 people were killed and over 70 injured when a bomb went off inside a fruit market in Islamabad Wednesday morning. Both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain condemned the blast. Along with deplore comes their close cousin, Condemn and having ridden past the blood drenched street, the right things have been said, now just take the bodies away and move on to the next atrocity.
The weakness in deploring is that it is not only now threadbare but who are you deploring it to. The culprits are not intimidated, the victims are not consoled, the problem stays unsolved.
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
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