I got this very cute picture of my nephew Ashesh at his school on dress-as-you-like day. He was dressed up as a freedom fighter, complete with a fake beard, bandana, lungi, and a rifle.I love my nephew, and feel very close to him, partly because I drove his mom to the hospital the day he was born, and mostly because he's such a charmer.
But the rifle gave me a pause. This week, the Talibans (allegedly) killed 11 police officers in Kandahar in the most gruesome manner. I don't want to repeat the whole story, which you can read from the NYT website, but I'll quote one para, which really disturbed me.
A policeman on watch on the roof was strangled, and was found in a room with two policemen who had been bound and shot in the head, said Nazar Jan, a policeman at the scene Monday morning. Eight other policemen were found shot dead in the room where they had slept, he said. One policeman was shot in the feet as he escaped, Mr. Jan said.
Now, I am not the one who prescribes everyone singing Kumbaya by the campfire and giving peace a chance, I think there's a place for violence and upheaval in the world. But at what point do you see your own countrymen as the enemy and execute them while they are sleeping? It's not even the "outsiders", the allied military forces, but poor underpaid local afghans. It really baffles my mind.
Another interesting news article caught my eye. Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, this week met Nalini Sriharan, one of the co-conspirators in her father's assassination. Sriharan was spared the death penalty at the plea of Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka's mother, because she had a young child.
The news report quoted Priyanka as saying to her, "My father was a good person... Had you known about my father's good nature, you would not have done this".
Maybe one day someone in Afghanistan will be able to do a gesture like this.
