This morning my friend Linta wrote to say that Paris Hilton was concerned about elephants in northeastern India that had gone on a rampage and died after getting drunk on the rice beer made by farmers. But now I learn from Huffington Post that AP or someone else has killed the story.

Catch the good news before it disappears. As it happens, also this morning, Kamila, a writer-friend from Pakistan, passed the observation that she was “pleased to note that Paris Hilton is urging the world to keep elephants away from alcohol. States of emergency seem petty in comparison.” Well, the good news on the Pakistan front is that Musharraf is not trying to kill democracy, he is only trying to save it. This comes from the Indian media pundit Prem Shankar Jha who has either gone completely insane or has just been drinking too much rice beer.

Salahuddin Ahmed, a young and brilliant lawyer in Karachi, a member of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, is unable to see his country through Jha’s eyes. In a note sent to me yesterday, he wrote:

All independent TV news channels were taken off air. Army officers have been stationed in the offices of all major newspapers to censor objectionable news. Criticism of Musharraf and his regime and the army has been made punishable with 3-years imprisonment. Satellite dishes and receivers have been banned in order to prevent the dissemination of news and information. Pakistan has been isolated from the international world and is being run along the lines of Burma and North Korea.

Under international pressure, Musharraf has now announced that he will hold elections early next year. It is our stand that any elections held in the absence of a Constitution and Fundamental Rights and an independent judiciary will be farcical exercise and a mere eye-wash.