Thirty Six Murders in Search of a Resignation

The May 12th mayhem was part reality part play. Just like Luigi Pirandello’s drama Six Characters in Search of an Author:

‘The A.R.T. resident acting company is rehearsing their production of The King Stag. Their rehearsal is interrupted by a family who explain that they are characters from an unfinished dramatic work and ask permission to reenact a crucial moment in their lives, a moment from which the actors can fashion a finished play.

‘The actors agree, and the characters [the father, the mother, the step-daughter, the son, the boy, the girl] tell their story with much bickering and disagreement. No sooner do they begin to reconstruct the scene than tragedy strikes, however, leaving the assembled company to wonder which of the events they are witnessing are real and which are not. Caught in the irreconcilable clash between day-to-day reality and the reality of art, the director/manager of the company bemoans a wasted day…’

The perpetrators of May 12th may lie, but dead bodies don’t.
They are there. Stone-eyed. And the restless ghosts of those killed are in search of a resignation. But whose?

I.G Sindh Niyaz Siddiqui
No, the guy didn’t fire a single shot. Need not resign. The police chief had, all day long, been inside the airport cordoning off the Chief Justice and the accompanying lawyers.

Home Advisor Sindh Waseem Akhtar
Not him either. Akhtar was far from the madding crowd – at Tibbat Centre.

DG Rangers Sindh Maj-Gen Javed Zia
He did his job well – the next day.

Nazim Karachi Mustafa Kamal
No, he was in New York attending a summit committed to tackling climate change and setting up large cities network.

Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad
We didn’t even realize we had a governor until next day. Mr. Ebad called out the Rangers and issued shoot-to-kill directives 30 hours after the mayhem.


CM Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim
He couldn’t beat them, so he probably joined them.

Baber Ghouri Oh no, no. How could he be? He’s minister for ports and shipping. None of his business.

Farooq Sattar
Who’s that guy?

MQM Chief Altaf Hussein
Ssshhhhh…..!!!!

Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed
You must be kidding me!

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
No, he was on another assignment. Pulling the poor peasants to the President’s rally was a Herculean task in itself.

President Musharraf
Generals don’t tender resignations. They ask for one.


Yes, now you got it right. It all began with the demand of a resignation.

While the thirty-six murders are in search of a resignation, let’s see how Pirandello concludes his play:

‘…then amid the cries and exclamations one hears the mother’s voice.

Mother: Help! Help!

The Manager: [pushing the ACTORS aside while THEY lift up the BOY and carry him off.] Is he really wounded?

Some Actors: He’s dead! Dead!

Other Actors: No, no, it’s only make believe, it’s only pretence!

The Father: [with a terrible cry] Pretence? Reality, sir, reality!

The Manager: Pretence? Reality? To hell with it all! Never in my life has such a thing happened to me. I’ve lost a whole day over these people, a whole day!