Via Amitava Kumar, an article in the Telegraph UK about President Zardari’s recent move to criminalize jokes about himself in Pakistan circulated via text or email:
Pakistanis who send jokes about Asif Zardari by text message, email or blog risk being arrested and given a 14-year prison sentence.
The country’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, announced the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been asked to trace electronically transmitted jokes that “slander the political leadership of the country” under the new Cyber Crimes Act.
Mr Malik, said the move would punish the authors of “ill motivated and concocted stories through emails and text messages against the civilian leadership”.
The step, which was described by human rights groups as “draconian and authoritarian”, came after government was particularly riled by a barrage of caustic jokes being sent to the presidency’s official email. (link)
Reading that makes one wonder what the jokes were — there must have been some good ones.
In the interest of encouraging Pakistani democracy, I thought I would follow Amitava in requesting readers to submit their own jokes about Zardari. If we have our act together, we’ll even compile them and send them to the Pakistani consulate to be forwarded via the correct diplomatic channels.
The Telegraph includes three sample jokes:
“Terrorists have kidnapped our beloved Zardari and are demanding $5,000,000 or they will burn him with petrol. Please donate what you can. I have donated five litres.”
To commemorate the ascension to the Presidency, Pakistan Post has officially launched a new stamp. But the people of Pakistan are confused which side on the stamp to spit on.
Robber: “Give me all your money!”
Zardari: “Don’t you know who I am? I am Asif Ali Zardari.”
Robber: “OK. Give me all my money”
And in case you need some starter material, President Zardari used to be a polo player. He was also known as “Mr. 10 percent” for his enthusiastic skimming of public money when his wife, Benazir Bhutto, was President, years ago. Finally, he is affectionately referred to by many within Pakistan as “chor” or “daku” (if anyone is thinking of rhyming).
In the interest of subcontinental fairness, I thought I would also solicit jokes about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh. Manmohan Singh is already comic fodder for many comedians in India; I don’t know about the others.
Note: Limericks and Haikus would be great too.
One request: there is a line between democratizing irreverency and bad taste. Try not to cross it.
