Author: Hafeez Khan

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Memories of friends are a double edged sword. They strengthen you; yet torment when remembering those no longer with us. These thoughts were recently triggered while attending a get-together in Mississauga in memory of Late Shahid Rashdi who left us four years ago. His daughter Dana and her husband Zain…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Most people thrive in sharing positive stories about themselves. A wise friend, senior to me, once advised that acknowledging a deprecating incident keeps you humble and grounded. It has served me well over the years. An aunt, who was very close to my mother, visited us in Islamabad in early…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan “Besharam de pith tey bota agua, kanda bhlaa hoya chawain bethan gay.” Translates “a tree grew on the back of a shameless guy, he said great I will sit in shade;” surrounded by nastiness and unrelenting greed; this is how you describe the prevalent situation. Political issues cannot be resolved…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan “Gidr de maut aaway te shehr wal dorda aay.” “When it’stime for a jackal to die, it runs towards the city.” With a Punjabi background, it is easy to pick a folklore that conveys it all in few words. That is what is happening to our nation these days. Short–sighted…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan It appears the whole PDM leadership is fixated on how to technically knock out Imran Khan from the political arena. This obsession arises from their realization that they cannot face him in a free and fair election. This is cemented regularly by the huge crowds that gather on their own…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Pakistan is going through intensely traumatic times. Floods and rain has inundated half the country. Vast swaths of rural and urban spaces have been devastated. Millions of acres of standing crops and animals have been washed away. Homes, roads, bridges have been destroyed. Thousands of lives have been lost. Millions…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Habibullah Kalkani better known as “Bachai Saqao”, which means a water carrier, ruled Afghanistan from January 17th to October 1929. He forced King Amanullah to abdicate. He was thrown out by Nadir Shah. Kalkani, of Tajik origins, came from a humble background, earning his livelihood distributing water in buffalo skin…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Punjabi is a flamboyant language. Its one-liners convey more than a thousand words. The present situation bringsto mind “chor uchka Chaudhry tey gundee Run bardhan.”It translates “when the head of a clan is a rogue and a thief, his gangster counterpart reigns supreme.” I don’t need to indentify the head…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan I used to farm in Kasur till I moved to Canada. In the earlynineties rural areas had limited TV access. To while away evenings, we would invariably congregate at “deras” of local landowners. Conversations would touch uponvarious topics, including local issues. It included stories about dealing with “mozairas”, farm workers,…

STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan ECP’s findings that PTI has done “prohibited fundraising” are bogus. They have thrown the kitchen sink at PTI full of falsehoods. PTI team has to go into overdrive to identify persons and companies wrongly named and debunk these assertions. PDM’s rejoicing is premature. Will it stand scrutiny by the Supreme…