This might come as a shocker but the “Sialkot killings” did not take place in the city of Sialkot.
SIALKOT: This might come as a shocker but the “Sialkot killings” did not take place in the city of Sialkot. In Sialkot we have our own chamber of commerce and airport, we are the world’s biggest soccer exporter, the second biggest in surgical after Tuttlingen in Germany, we have the biggest tannery in Asia and, according to a recent survey, the per capita income of the city is more than that of Japan. This accursed event took place in a village near Sialkot called Buttar. It would be unfair to say that the event took place in Sialkot because it is in the same district. Obviously Sialkot was involved, the two brother killed were from Sialkot city. I am fearful that journalists who hold sway with the minds and thoughts of people might create a stereotype about my city.
I condemn this incident but the 200 people in a nearby village do not represent us. We have flaws but we are one city of Pakistan that is doing things a little better than most.
Asad Shoki
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2010.
