Megalomaniac

Sixty-two years ago, Pakistan was created on the basis of the Two-Nation Theory. Those who fought for the freedom of this country might have had a secular perspective but were still of the view that in order to secure the rights of the Muslim minority in the Indian subcontinent, a new country had to be formed. It is quite ironic to see that a country that came into being to secure the rights of a minority is now itself guilty of violating the rights of other minorities living here. Uri Avnery, an Israeli peace activist, quoted a letter from his Israeli friend Dov Yermiya in an article ‘Our responsibility’ ( Daily Times , August 4, 2009). Mr Yermiya declared that he would not be “loyal to the Jewish fascist state and its mad visions” and further wrote, “Israel will never be forgiven for the terrible toll of [Palestinian] blood spilt, and especially the blood of children, in hair-raising quantities.” I wonder if Pakistan could be forgiven for spilling the blood of its own people, especia...

Conspiracy theory is the only industry in Pakistan that runs round the clock and the production quality as well as product variety are absolutely out of this world. The whole school of conspiracy theory reflects a certain mindset, which comes up with half-baked stories based on little or no evidence. Just like former US President George W Bush had his axis of evil, a lot of Pakistanis have their own axis of evil — India, Israel and the US. If anybody so much as sneezes in the land of the pure, any one of these three countries or all of them are behind it. This is exactly what Mr Ijazul Haq did in his two articles, ‘A criminal conspiracy’ and ‘Punish the Bahawalpur conspirators’ published in Daily Times on September 8 and 9, 2009. He has not only blamed Pakistan’s own ‘axis of evil’ but he has blamed everyone and his uncle for General Ziaul Haq’s death: Russia, Afghanistan, Al-Zulfiqar, the Pakistani military and many others. First, let us examine why the Russians may not be responsibl...