The meeting

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s visit to the Kot Lakhpat jail to enquire after Nawaz Sharif and to know about the medical facilities provided to him was a gesture that must be appreciated in our public discourse. Bilawal’s gesture should serve as a model behavior to be emulated by our politicians regardless of the fact whether the person who happens to be ill is a friend or a political rival. I recall that when Imran Khan fell from a hydraulic lift at one of his rallies of the 2013 election campaign and was badly injured, Imran’s then political contender Nawaz Sharif went to see him in the hospital regardless of the fact that Imran Khan was his staunch political opponent and was fiercely criticising him during his campaigns. This act was also appreciated by the majority.

It is a sad state of affairs that PM Imran Khan has not been able to bring civility in some of his cabinet ministers. The statement of the information minister on Bilawal’s visit was in bad taste. If our politicians didn’t mend their ways and didn’t stop using an uncivil language against their opponents, we are in for a political culture that will, undoubtedly, further fracture our already fractured social fabric. Let us show to our younger generation that we are civil and would like to promote civility in all spheres of our social interactions.

Dr Zafar I Qureshi

Lahore