What on earth are politicians up to these days? They are supposed to act as role models for the masses. Wait a minute! Actually, they are supposed to be the representatives of the people. Since we are intolerant so we should not expect them to act as gentlemen. It would be a very unrealistic demand on our part. One has to say that they are doing the job diligently i.e. representing their people.

The bloodied picture of a Turkish lawmaker on the front page of Feb. 16 and the highly publicized brawl in the Indian Parliament with one of the lawmakers trying to spice up the debate by spraying pepper, should send alarm bells ringing among the intelligentsia of the respective countries.

Such incidents show that we humans are becoming increasingly violent and intolerant toward each other.

The Indian lawmaker, I am sure, did not have the intention of harming any of his fellow members except stressing his point in our own South Asian way. If you go through history, we will come across many funny incidents. Now we learn that even toothpaste is banned in flights due to fears of a bomb that could be concealed in the tube. So it is high time strict security measures were implemented while these so-called “lawmakers” entered the Parliament.

S.H. Moulana

Riyadh