For about three days, three years ago Senator Israrullah Zehri was the most reviled person in Pakistan’s liberal enclave. Since he has now faded into comfortable obscurity, it is worth recalling how Zehri commanded his ten minutes of fame.

Back in August 2008, the Asian Human Rights Commission reported that three girls and their two mothers had been buried alive in Baba Kot. The girls had wanted to marry husbands of their choice and were supported by their mothers in that decision. There were also reports that a local politician was involved in their murders. The news led to justifiable outrage and parliament was urged to condemn the barbaric crime. Senator Zehri, who is affiliated with the Balochistan National Party-Awami, just couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. About burying the women who had ‘dishonoured’ their families, Zehri said, “These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them. Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid.”

The comments spurred activists into action. My then-colleagues even painted banners with angry slogans and demonstrated outside the Karachi Press Club. Nothing less than Zehri’s resignation from the Senate was going to do. The PPP, which was allied with the BNP-A, hunkered down and studiously avoided comment. Just a few days later, like ADD-afflicted zombies who have just taken a fistful of Valium, we forgot all about Zehri and moved on to the next outrage of the day.

Why am I bringing up Zehri’s vile remarks three years after the fact – an eternity in our hyper-kinetic media maelstrom? I’d like to say it is because timing doesn’t matter; the likes of Zehri should be condemned on a daily basis. But that would be hypocritical of me. Truth is, I had forgotten all about him until I read a news story about the recent cabinet reshuffle. Zehri, already serving as the federal postal services minister, had been given a boost in stature and named food and agriculture minister. The man who wants women to be buried while still alive is now responsible for plucking tomatoes from the ground.

Zehri’s promotion went unnoticed. The media was preoccupied figuring out the great Shah Mehmood Qureshi soap opera. Or, since journalists like money as much as anyone else, everyone from three years ago has now moved on to plum jobs in advertising and PR and no one’s around to remember what a stir Zehri caused back then.

Editors love to moan about how no one does follow-up stories. It is hard to follow up on something when our amnesia is so total we have forgotten the original crime. Remember the Sialkot lynching? Columnists were so reviled by it they were trying to one-up each other in comparing Pakistanis, in ascending order of disgust, to assorted rodents, insects and action movie stars. The next time we reflexively condemn the government of the day for their lethargy, let’s remember our own culpability. It is easy for the authorities to let sleeping dogs lie when we have already euthanised all the canines.

Sure, it’s now too late to expect Zehri to be fired or forced to resign his seat in disgrace. Simply forgetting what he said, however, not only whitewashes his name in history, it shows how our laziness and lethargy allows other villains to be forgotten and even redeemed. Yesterday it was Zehri; tomorrow it could be Mumtaz Qadri and his assorted friends in high places. The list of people who need to be excluded from government and polite society has been growing at an exponential rate in recent years. At the very least, a hall of shame needs to be maintained. Let me begin by volunteering my Excel spreadsheet skills.

Nadir Hassan is a journalist based in Karachi and can be found on Twitter.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.