Now was that really necessary? And was it also necessary for our media to conflate these statements with Shiv Sena`s xenophobic idiocy?

The fact remains that Pakistan in the last 25 years has killed at least 75,000 Indians including women and children - from Kashmir, through Punjab, Maharashtra, the north-east and in pretty much every major Indian state. And that is a conservative estimate.

As we speak, there has been a major escalation of terrorist attacks from Pakistan over the last few months - and thanks to "our great neighbor", Indian families have been receiving a steady stream of body bags: of brave Indian sons who put their lives in between our families and the marauders from across the border. Of innocent people blown up by bombs in public places. Like the German Bakery in Pune.

We could well have ignored the pocket-book driven uninformed ramblings of a movie-star, but then, our national media started a shrill "Support SRK" campaign with absolutely no attempt to analyze the implications of what he`s said.

Image: A promotional still from the Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name is Khan

Also see: How the Shiv Sena helped SRK