And now the coin. This is going a bit over board with benazir-fobia. PP has got new “shaheed” for years to come and Pakistan’s money to waste. Do they even know how much money is needed just to change the names of existing cities, airports, parks, air programs etc? We dont even have coins with pictures of Allama Iqbal, Liaqat Ali Khan but now we have with the name of BB on it !
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One of the leading problems with us is there are far too many self-claimed martyrs. Martyrdom has literally become the most easily available death. No matter what one is been doing throughout their life doesn’t matter, if your killed voila a martyr!. We also suffer from the ‘Bhutto- Fever’ , quite volatile and fatal one.
When renaming Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi General Hospital, Nawabshah and Islamabad airport wasn’t enough we have on our hands our very own personalized ‘Bhutto coins’. The death anniversary has already been announced as a ‘Public Holiday’. The government has announced to launch Bhutto coins:
Pakistan’s central bank will issue a special Benazir Bhutto coin to mark the first anniversary of the former prime minister’s assassination in a suicide attack last year in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Some 300,000 commemorative ten rupee (nine pence) coins have been minted and will be issued on 27 December, the date of her death. On one side, the coin bears a portrait of Ms Bhutto, in her trademark headscarf. Inscribed under the image in Urdu is the phrase, “Daughter of the East, the honorable martyr Benazir Bhutto”.
This will be the first time in the country’s history that the currency will display a face other than of the Founder. The series of gestures will continue for the coming years. Its a pitty really how such meaningless steps are being taken by the state.
This further goes on to demonstrate the state of ‘democracy’ in the country. If nothing else this new step surely assures a change for the local people, brace yourself for the-all-so-new tag line for beggars:
ALLAH kay naam pay bhutto de day ! 