STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan
December is holiday season in the West. It’s a time to show kindness, and share love and gratitude towards loved ones. In cold and snowy winter in Canada, it’s the time to be cozy and bundling up if you step out. Work routines are relaxed giving you time to reflect and mull over. I confess that I am deeply invested emotionally and mentally in the happenings in Pakistan. For over a decade I spend winter months in Lahore to enjoy company of friends and family. I have denied myself this pleasure for the 2nd year to avoid the “welcome” I would receive for expressing my views.
In Lahore the highlight of the week is getting together with buddies at Hassan Nisar’s place every Thursday. We would have celebrated 60 years of friendship this year. There was huge tug at my heart with a dose of jealousy when I found out that this Thursday the gathering includedAfzal Ghauri, Pervez Syed (Paiji Shah), Tahir Chaudhry, Khalid Taj and indomitable Hassan Nisar. Even though I am blessed with a wide circle of friends that I relish, these guys are pretty much a big chunk of my universe in Lahore.
Hassan is an avid reader with an insatiable desire to gain in-depth knowledge on a wide variety of subjects. This is coupled with a Gift to explain the most complex subject in easy layman’s terms. A few years back he come across some European and Indian authors who had studied human and animal behaviors. They pointed outcommonalities in behavior and resemblance between humans and particular specie of animal. Hassan, Afzal and I tested this this theory with some real-life individuals to reach the same conclusions.
Without dwelling on the merit or demerits of this theory, I recently reflected on behavior patterns of General Asim and his close associates. I concluded that they bore closest resemblance to a wolf or a pack of wolves. After conducting research, the similarities are amazing; here is a brief summary of likeness. A wolf is aggressive seeking conflicts. It is predatory in nature. It is territorial and fiercely seeking to dominate its domain. Its reactions are unpredictable when under threat becomes destructive (compare to violence on 26th November). It is opportunistic and ruthless to feed off the weak. Wolves operate in packs deploying maximum force to achieve their objectives.
Exhibiting these patterns General Asim has earned a fearsome reputation like a wolf. Our General’s entire armory revolves around instilling fear in the hearts and minds of the populace through use of brute force. Based on experience with previous military dictators in Pakistan, he should have fully prevailed by now. To his bad luck there is a spoke in the wheel of General Asim that has upset his design for a decade long rule. It is Imran Khan who displays all the traits of a tiger. IK has been caged for over 500 days, yet he continues to roar from behind his jail walls. IK’s resounding roars continue to unify this nation in their quest for freedom and resisting this dictator’s power grab.
The massacre of November 26th at the hands of trained assassins in uniform is an extremely consequential day for Pakistan. The purity of green and white flag was desecrated with the blood of innocent protestors seeking their basic rights. It was a deep moment of reflection for IK. The doors on peaceful protest were slammed shut. Pakistanis lost the last forum to express. After the criminal 26th Constitutional Amendment, avenues of judicial relief are blocked. We were on the edge of a precipice. Historically when all the tools of democratic struggle are robbed, it degenerates into an armed resistance with violent consequences.
IK’s next move saved Pakistan from this bloodletting. In a dramatic change of strategy, he switched the struggle to strike at the weakest spot of this bloodthirsty moronic regime. Reduction in overseas remittances will strike at the heart of this Government already teetering on edge of bankruptcy. That is when Providence gave the relief so many Pakistanis have been praying for. As IK has often repeated, “these guys are uneducated, and they don’t even try”. Add that to the stupidity of those in power.
In order to distract the nations’ fixation with massacre of Islamabad, the military courts announced sentences for drummed up charges of May 9th. A typical wolf’s aggressive reaction. It triggered a global condemnation, the most damning from EU just before Christmas. Pakistan has violated EU treaties it was a signatory of. It could trigger removal of Pakistan’s GSP Plus status causing a loss of nearly 10Billion in exports. Combined reduced of remittances and export revenue will be a death knell blow.
The icing on the cake is coming from a new hero for Pakistanis, Richard Grenell, a Trump nominee for special assignments likely to include Pakistan. Thanks to Overseas Pakistanis, including PAKPAC USA. Mr. Grenell continues to sensitize US political landscape and law makers through a focused slogan “Free Imran Khan”. These are first rain drops of a brewing storm against the injustices of Biden regime. Finally, the wolves are being cornered. The final blow to lying generals will come from international community recognizing and speaking up against the injustices perpetuated by this fascist regime.
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