Flogging – real or fake

KARACHI: What exactly is one to make of Awab Alvi’s article of April 17 titled ‘Flogging my sentiments’? What does he mean by putting key words like evidence in single quotes? Is he ignoring, perchance, the remarks by then Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan who said on record that the girl was indeed flogged by members of the group?

If someone stage-managed it, as Mr Alvi claims, what would be the motive behind doing something like that? Mr Alvi suggests that the military “may have leveraged the video in order to justify the army operation against the Taliban”. Who is he kidding? Surely, the Taliban had been slaughtering the people of Swat on a daily basis, they were burning and bombing schools — did people really need to be convinced of their barbaric ways? Mr Alvi, could you please answer this?