Old habits die hard.

How can we forget jubilant Ansar Burney sharing victorious smiles with Kashmir Singh in front of TV cameras at Wagha border when latter was handed over to Indian authorities like a Dewali gift? Most of Pakistanis are wondering where he was when grief stricken mother of Khalid Mehmood was receiving mutilated body of her slain son at that very spot. According to news items, he knew about the killing when he walked triumphantly on the ground showered with tears from mournful mother the following week.

In 1992, as Executive Director, I admitted Ansar Burney to PIMS with "˜Bhook Hartaal'. After persuasion by the then health minister he decided to end it, but not before I arranged electronic and print media on his insistence. I can't forget the wink in his eye and smile on his face when he insisted on presence of media. Lately, I found his photo passion unchanged when he visited Mr. Nawaz Sharif at Duke Street, London a few months ago. They say old habits die hard and it seems his passion for publicity hasn't changed much during all these years.