Nerve Endings Firing Away

The Pakistani authorities have placed the former head of an outlawed Islamic militant group under house arrest.

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, who until five years ago headed the Lashkar-e-Toiba, was detained in Lahore [source].

I have never fully understood the concept of house arrest. I find it almost akin to a parent sending a kid to his room. Of course, it doesn’t happen in India where parents simply wallop the kids ass sending a strong reminder that more indiscipline would be punished by violence and not simply by subjecting you to self-introspection – go to your home and think how bad you have been. Our examples of house arrests -Shivaji by Aurangzeb and Subhash Chandra Bose by the British – have been also associated with remarkable escapes when in fact, have been anything but remarkable. Of course, Pakistan here is trying to have its cake and eat it too by saying, look we are an integral part of the war on terror.

Heck, even Martha Stewart got a stricter sentence. I bet Hafiz doesn’t even wear an ankle bracelet that sends beepy signals to the guy listening in. Of course, the naivety of restricting someone inside his home when Internet and mobile phones have made connectivity ubiquitous is astounding. But I guess wimpy Indian peacemakers are happy that at least Hafiz can’t go out to Starbucks; he can have his frappes delivered at home while being ‘under arrest’.

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