Through a glass

During a press briefing in the capital on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin was asked to react to the recent slapping of sedition charges on Kashmiri students in Meerut for apparently shouting pro-Pakistan slogans during a cricket match. A usually taciturn Akbaruddin offered an elliptical reply in Hindi. "Seeshe ke gharon mein rehne waale dusro ke gharon mein patthar nahin phekte" (those who live in glass houses should not throw stones). This left some reporters confused, so he added, even more enigmatically, "Samajhne waale samajh gayein hain" (those who need to, have understood). But when some reporters, obviously amused, asked him to give the same reply in English, he tactfully declined.