Indian poet and activist Aamir Aziz on Thursday became an internet sensation in Pakistan after Prime Minister Imran Khan shared a video of British songwriter Roger Waters reciting verses from the poetry of Aziz to a packed audience at a London protest event.
Although Waters only recited a handful of the verses from the poem, searches for Aziz and the related poem have skyrocketed across the sub-continent, especially in Pakistan. A video of Aziz reciting his now viral poem is available on video sharing platform YouTube as well.
Why the poem feels so personal?
Violence hit parts of Delhi earlier this week as gangs roamed streets littered with the debris of days of sectarian riots that have killed 39 people, police said Thursday. Thousands of riot police and paramilitaries patrolled the affected northeast fringes of the Indian capital. The unrest is the latest bout of violence over a new citizenship law championed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which triggered months of demonstrations that turned deadly in December. The law is discriminatory toward the Muslim minority of the country, experts say. The poem not only talks about the atrocities against the Muslims but it resonates with everyone who is under oppression by an authoritarian and tyrannical rule.
