Book Review: Jo Dekha, Jo Suna.. (2007)

WHY I CHOSE TO READ THIS BOOK?

A few months ago, I happened to read Tariq Ali’s “The Leopard and the Fox” which was a script for the show BBC commissioned him in 1985 to write about the final days of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and the founder of Pakistan People Party (PPP), Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The project was shelved for being anti-Zia-ul-Haq.

Bhutto’s leadership in Pakistan has always been a talking point whenever the country’s political history has been reflected. During the entire political fiasco the country has suffered, it is worth observing that Zulfikar’s political career was confronted with three of the four military phases. Under Ayub Khan, Bhutto was the Foreign Minister. Yahya Khan handed over his presidency and his government to Bhutto after the fall of East Pakistan. Zia-ul-Haq was Bhutto’s second Chief of Army Staff who later became the reason for his death.

Zulfikar’s political legacy and fresh memories of reading the previous book on Bhutto-Zia prompted me to read Qayyum Nizami’s political analysis of the PPP’s prime era and the memoir of Bhutto in the shape of almost a 500-page book, ‘Jo Dekha Jo Suna’ (What I Saw, What I Heard).

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WRITING STYLE AND DETAILING

Although, a book with such lengthy detailing does not really buy me as a reader as I feel that the author has heavily sugar-coated Bhutto’s heroics and overpraised him. I adore Bhutto’s style of addressing and his leadership, the man had the courage to raise his voice against the military dictatorship and address eye-to-eye with the United States. But the flaw is in the style of writing that makes ‘Jo Dekha Jo Suna’ look like some propaganda project.

On page.192, there is a detailed chronological timeline of the Bhutto government’s activities. In these pages, I noticed that a lot of times Bhutto government got loans from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Russia, etc. Why the author doesn’t explain the reason for asking for loans? Pakistan in 2022 still continues the tradition of receiving loans from the IMF and other countries but this history book should have highlighted, why Pakistan was receiving loans fifty years ago.

Bhutto was, without a doubt, a great leader but the author being his disciple has glorified Bhutto and made me think if I was reading a biography of God but not Bhutto. Almost every turn of a page has dramatic praises for him. There is literally a line on page.176 where the author compares Bhutto’s martyrdom with Hussain’s by writing that “Pakistan and third world countries regret Bhutto’s martyrdom just like Islamic world regrets with Hussain’s.”

And then there are various incidents or statements that make you think if the authenticity compromises. The author writes on page.119 about one night during the times of Pakistan military and government officials’ humiliating surrender before the Indian Army, Bhutto’s daughter Benazir enters her father’s room and notices that he is lying on the floor instead of in bed. When she asks the reason then Bhutto replies, “How can I sleep on the bed when 90,000 soldiers sleep on the floor of Indian camps?” Maybe this reads very inspiring to the other readers but I feel as if this is a reel incident but not real.

On page.38, the author states that former Indian Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, died of a heart attack. He didn’t bother to clarify that Shastri’s death is still a mystery despite the reason for his passing being announced to be a heart attack. But the author finds it more important to inform the readers that the-then Foreign Secretary Aziz Ahmed called Shastri a bastard.

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INTERESTING HIGHLIGHTS

‘Jo Dekha Jo Suna’ is not really full of a disciple glossing his party and the leader in its entirety, there are many pages that are either of some critical significance or heartwarming. I really liked reading about the relationship between Bhutto and his wife, Nusrat. In the earliest pages, there is a chapter where Nusrat Bhutto gives details about how she and Zulfikar came to know each other and tied the knot. In the middle of the book, a chapter reflects on the entire meeting of Nusrat and Benazir with Bhutto in prison a day before he was hanged, and that was pretty heart-boiling to read, picturizing and imagining how things would have gone between these Bhuttos.

‘Jo Dekha Jo Suna’ also offers to read Bhutto’s memorable speeches that are stretched to around fifty pages. The book has documented a lot of letters that Bhutto father and daughter wrote to the author and vice versa. There, also, are letters by famous British philosopher Bertrand Russell to different global leaders of that time praising Bhutto and sharing his point of view about his political vision. There also are over a hundred rare pictures of Bhutto, Benazir, and Qayyum Nizami during various political events.

One of the last chapters of the book covers politicians, journalists, and people from other fields of work briefing their own ‘What they saw, What they heard’ to the readers. Some events and incidents are interesting.

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LAHORE, PAKISTAN, APR 08: Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader, Hamza Shahbaz leaving
after court case hearing, at High Court in Lahore on Monday, April 08, 2019. The Lahore High
Court (LHC) granted Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader, Hamza Shahbaz pre-arrest bail till
April 17 and restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him in cases
pertaining to ownership of assets beyond means. (Babar Shah/PPI Images).

CLOSING REMARKS

Qayyum Nizami is a veteran politician and columnist who played an important role in Bhutto’s party. He had close political relations with both Bhutto and Benazir. ‘Jo Dekha Jo Suna’ is his extensive insider about the struggling times of his leader and the party.

The motive for reading the book is that the reader acquires knowledge. Bibliophiles cannot remember every word or page of the book they read but naturally, our brain has the obvious capacity to store at least one to twenty percent of the information that is collected from the book. By reading ‘Jo Dekha Jo Suna’, it doesn’t matter whether I liked reading this book or not, I get some clues and rough ideas about the existence of the party, the Bhutto administration, and the political conflicts of his time, and that is what is valuable for me.

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Book Review: The Leopard and the Fox (2006)

LAHORE, PAKISTAN, APR 08: Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader, Hamza Shahbaz leaving
after court case hearing, at High Court in Lahore on Monday, April 08, 2019. The Lahore High
Court (LHC) granted Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader, Hamza Shahbaz pre-arrest bail till
April 17 and restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him in cases
pertaining to ownership of assets beyond means. (Babar Shah/PPI Images).

WHO IS TARIQ ALI?

Tariq Ali is a well-known British political activist and author of many significant political and historical books like 1968 and After: Inside the Revolution (1978), Clash of Fundamentalisms (2002), Bush in Babylon (2003), 5 novels of his Islam Quintet, and many more.

Born to a Pakistan Times journalist Mazhar Ali Khan and one of Communist Party of Pakistan (CCP)’s founding members Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan, Tariq Ali inherited Marxism and journalism from them. But more than that, Tariq Ali came to prominence through activism and being part of some social and political rallies. He became part of the New Left and also joined the International Marxist Group in the late 1960s.

Tariq Ali was the president of the Oxford Union in 1965 where he met Malcolm X. He also conducted an interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono for the Red Mole newspaper in 1971. The Rolling Stones’ most political song “Street Fighting Man” was written for Tariq Ali after he participated in the infamous 1968 anti-war rally at London’s US embassy. He also wrote a screenplay for Oliver Stone’s 2009 documentary ‘South of the Border‘.

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THE BIRTH OF THE BBC PROJECT

Tariq Ali’s book ‘The Leopard and the Fox’ was published in 2006 but the inception, of what became a British problem for the broadcasting company tackling with the foreign policy, occurred twenty years back. In mid-1985, BBC’s Head of Drama, Robin Midgley approached Tariq Ali and commissioned him to write a three-part limited series about the trials and execution of Pakistan’s former prime minister and the founder of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The author agreed and worked on the story for the next few months.

At the beginning of the next year, Tariq Ali had completed his writing. In fact, the discussions went to the next phase about the casting for the political characters where Ziya Mohyeddin and Naseeruddin Shah were opined to play General Zia-ul-Haq and Bhutto respectively. Further discussions suggested that the makers wanted Angelica Huston and Sian Thomas to play Benazir Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto respectively. But things stood without motion and in a few weeks, the proceedings halted when the hierarchy of BBC took the rounds of reading Tariq’s script in its entirety and asked Tariq to meet and discuss.

Eventually, the meetings failed to reach some agreement and the project was shelved after the script made the big bosses uncomfortable. The fire that was to rise, the spark that was to shine, the flame that was to ignite, all watered down.

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WHAT WERE THE ODDS?

The most obvious reason for that the BBC dodged and overlooked the production is the interference of the government who didn’t want to bring their position on the West fighting the Russians in Afghanistan in jeopardy. General Zia was the US’s most valuable ally and airing a limited series about Zia in a negative portrayal would have risen the political eyebrows and questioned their government about their cooperation and commitment.

The American interests came between the productional body, and the environment within the BBC became more political than the upcoming BBC show. This gives an impression that perhaps BBC wanted to air a show that pleases American friends. But they made the mistake of offering the project to Tariq Ali. Maybe because they were not aware of his rebellious nature. Tariq Ali had been in the rallies against the Pakistan military and the US wars in the past. So I refuse to believe that they were not aware of him. It is just an assumption.

But it is quite awkward from the British part that BBC will make a mistake to offer him. Tariq Ali landed on British soil for the very reason of his anti-military nature. His military uncle warned his parents that he will not be able to protect him if he continued his lobby against the military. Therefore, his parents moved him to the UK and admitted him to Exeter College, Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE).

If things were not going in BBC’s way, they could also have changed the writer with a new script draft instead of shelving the project. So I am not sure about the circumstances.

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THE BOOK, THE BAD, AND THE UGLINESS

106 scenes in 167 pages were written about the final days of Bhutto. I am believing that all that was written was not at all true but partially fictional. Because if 80% of what is all written in the book is accurate, the book richly deserves to release its television adaptation.

Being a film critic myself, reading a script based on Pakistan’s infamous political event that set the example of the most brutal military dictatorship and authoritative enforcements made me visualize how the military meetings and suppression of the Bhuttos in the book would have made it on the camera. Imagining Rawalpindi aerial shots with the demonstrators clashing with the police, the sound recording of the bullets firing on the roaring protestors, and the sound of tear gas would have given adrenalin if the chosen director would have shot this with meticulous care. Imagine someone like Oliver Stone, Roman Polanksi, or Ridley Scott shooting this demonstration scene.

Bhutto’s parties were written that develop a dubious environment where chess players find corners to establish evil whispers and understand the political game. Whiskey was a common drink in the entire book and it is an open secret that Bhutto was addicted to drinking. The military is portrayed not as a powerful force but puppets who are to follow the orders of the outsiders and change the political environment. The military maintains innocence and tries to convince that they have no ambition in politics. Bhutto has a dark theory since the start of the book that they wanted their head and bottoms out of leadership for purpose.

 Reading this book got exciting when the script began to scream where Bhutto was losing his strength as the country’s leader and the military was about to take the advantage of his jaw-dropping speech. The intensity of the story from scene 33 is unusual. The buildup of the military’s takeover and Bhutto’s first two arrests are written exceptionally well. It gives you that horror that you do not ask for while you try to say peace at night and suddenly all hell breaks down. The application of that hell was gripping.

Some references were funny, interesting, and thoughtful. Like Bhutto mentioning Kissinger’s curse, and the wife of a famous politician who stole panties in Marks and Spencers. No name was mentioned in the book as the incident was enough to guess who brought shame with this crime of shoplifting. It was Wali Khan’s wife Nasim Wali Khan who was caught red-handed at Kensington in the late 1970s. There is an interesting guess when the Chief Justice asks the judge if he has a nephew in the army. That would be the author Tariq Ali himself who was a nephew to a military uncle.

The courtroom scenes were pretty short and Bhutto’s episodic speech ran with the change of dates. Here, I expected broader detailing because a story like this humongously demands an enormous courtroom scene where the trials and tribunals make the reader (and the television audience) pessimistic and thoughtful at the same time. A specific courtroom scene edges you to incline on one part of the theory but the book in its entirety is strictly biased towards one side. I feel some portions of writing must have compelled both the leopard and the fox to challenge the goods, the bads, and the ugliness of their characters. I am on Bhutto’s side but as a reader or an observer, I wanted to see both the parties being judged on the same scale, I wanted to see the wrongs of Bhutto and the rights of General Zia too.

I also wanted to realize how the episodes were separated. There is no division of episodes at all. Pretty sure the story didn’t conclude well. I mean the reader knows how the story will end but unfortunately, the technical finishing was missing. After all the buildup of Bhutto’s final days as the leader, the trials, and Zia’s martial law, the story abruptly ended in a jiffy.

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CLOSING REMARKS

The book holds a lot of questions. Reading both the appendices is a must. Because when you read those appendices, a lot of theories and questions give birth. The value of the subject is computed. The assumptions and probabilities from the trials and the military meetings are figured out. The complexity of the global politics that was played in the 1970s, the conflicts that were raised from the West, USSR, Gulf, and the South Asian countries were vast and the talks were unprecedented. Writing aside, a history check is a must.

Why do the Americans want Bhutto’s ass out of the equation as the ruling head? Was the then US government giving orders to the generals in Pakistan? Was Bhutto’s execution necessary? Were the judges involved in the conspiracy?

Anyone can read this book. The book has a simple vocabulary. No strong advanced literature. It is a script, you may imagine as a theatrical play. The Leopard and the Fox is not a history book but a play about history. So you may say that the writing is inspired by true events.

Is reading this story important? See, if you are looking for some answers, you may not get it but reading about this infamous event will give birth to an idea that changed Pakistan’s political situation forever. For those who seek, they can learn a lot of deal about one segment of international politics.

It doesn’t matter if you were or are on the leopard’s side or the fox’s because the painful fact is that between the lines of Bhutto-Zia political rivalry and the interference of the then American government, it was Pakistan as a whole that met social, cultural, political, and economic damages and couldn’t ever recover after that.

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FAVORITE SCENES

06, 09, 14, 18, 19, 22, 24, 28, 32, 36, 39, 41, 43, 45, 56, 59, 64-72, 75, 80, 81, 85, 88, 89, 93-96, 101, 102

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Book Review: The Cricketer, The Celebrity, The Politician (2009)

Right-Arm… Over The Wicket… Off Cutter… Bowled!!!!!!!!

The batsman was yet to understand when did the ball release from his hand and when it reached the stumps, all he realized was off the gloves, bat pressed in the wet armpit and there was the pavilion.

Off you go… Better luck next time… Give my love to your sister…

Shall I say, cricket playboy? Shall I say every dream girl’s HBK?

When he was bowling with a breathtaking run-up, he looked like Tony Montana firing ‘Say Hello To My Little Friend‘.

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INTRODUCTION

Born in Lahore and settled in Mianwali. Blood of a Pathan and rooting from the Niazis and the Burkis. Descendant of Pir Roshan and ex-son-in-law of Goldsmiths. Alumni of Oxford and Chancellor of Bradford. The winner of the World Cup and builder of the groundbreaking cancer hospital. Two sons from Jemima and a daughter from Sita. Imran Khan is the Cricketer, the Celebrity, the Politician and that’s the book I just finished reading.

This book was written and published in 2009 by arguably one of the finest biographers, Christopher Sandford, who also wrote biographies of many great legends like ‘Primitive Tool‘ on Mick Jagger in 1993, ‘Edge of Darkness‘ on Eric Clapton in 1994, ‘Kurt Cobain‘ in 1995, ‘Loving the Alien‘ on David Bowie in 1996, ‘Satisfaction‘ on Keith Richards in 2003 and ‘Polanski‘ on Roman Polanski in 2007 in the past couple of decades.

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REVIEW

Published by Harper Collins, comprised of 402 pages and 10 very interesting chapters, Sandford’s pen proved no ink miscarriage or bleaking malfunction as the man in the limelight was properly life-summarized. The book is like an exclusive documentary or the making of a legend. While reading the pages, you are sensing some footage playing in your clouds of imagination.

Sandford put three years of his efforts to shape this book from 2006 to 2008. During these years, he conducted many interviews with many personalities linked/associated with Imran’s life and careers like Mike Brearley, Geoff Boycott, Javed Miandad, Pervez Musharraf, and Jemima Khan-Goldsmith. He also collected the cricketing sources from different cricket administrations, Cricinfo, and county clubs. Many of the incidents and quotations have been picked from various books including Imran Khan’s The Autobiography, All-Round View, and Indus Journey, plus various books written on/by Botham, Miandad, Atherton, Sobers, and Parvez Musharraf. The author also conducted his three most prominent interviews with Imran Khan in 2008.

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CHAPTERS

Sandford depicts his deep research towards Pakistan cricket and the first two chapters will give you an idea of how good he is in describing the gear-shifting of Pakistan cricket from the 50s to the 60s. In these chapters, enter the central character and his family tree and relatives are penned in detail.

Even the smallest account/incident means a lot for the readers to know the iconic leader as he once bribed a policeman in his teen-hood and enjoyed ammi’s scolding. While his cricket-level moves with his education from Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to the county cricket, the political environment in the surrounding proceeds like East Pakistan partition to Bangladesh and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto regime.

The third chapter is his account of his university-level and county cricket, the beginning of his international cricket career, and his life in England. The fourth chapter depicts life in Sussex county, the political crisis of the late 1970s, and furthermore tours including the 1979 World Cup. And the chapters proceed on and on.

The readers will exhume with the excitement of enjoying reading about his high-profile affairs with many ladies that prominently include painter Emma Sergeant, fashion guru Susannah Constantine and former German VJ of MTV Europe Kristiane Backer. The controversial case of Imran’s affair with Sita White is sensitively not protracted as I was expecting. But he is never bothered to call her ‘Drama Queen’.

The 1992 World Cup story is the one that will bring that josh-e-junoon page by page as a magnificent comeback is enthralling when you read it match by match. In all cricketing tours Imran participated in, with obvious picking, it is the great West Indian team to whom defeating was Imran’s biggest challenge.

Imran’s philanthropy in the book is adverted towards the foundation of integrity and prosperity with the qualities Imran has been assembled. The building of Pakistan’s first Cancer Hospital is one of the achievements by Imran, the inspiration came after the death of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum, who succumbed to cancer in 1985. For the purpose of laying the foundation and shaping it into functioning, Sandford has penned sporadically Imran’s effort of fundraising from campaigns, shows, parties, exhibition games, and earnings from his playing career.

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TWO BIOGRAPHIES AND THE DECLARATION

I had read Javed Miandad’s Cutting Edge where he reflected on his cricketing career and dirty games played behind the scenes. So after reading that book, it was easy for me to now understand Imran’s take on all this. The difference was literature; Miandad’s story flows like a river but the details of this book are more broader.

Any reader like me will find a wide range of description of Imran’s relationship with Javed Miandad. On many occasion, Miandad’s book Cutting Edge has been used as an instance where indirectly the (mis)understanding between the two is reflected and perhaps becomes debatable. Most alarmingly, when it comes to the strangest decision of Imran’s captaincy of declaring the inning when Miandad on the crease was only twenty runs shy of a triple century. The arguments don’t match and I feel scratching my head after knowing Imran’s reason for the declaration. This infamous incident is mentioned in the third chapter on page 90.

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RISE OF A POLITICIAN

How can the biography of Imran’s life be without the biggest happening since his cricketing career? The entry of Jemima Goldsmith and launching of his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice). From here, when more than half of the book has been read, the most critical writing pledges. Sandford surpasses the expectation of translating Imran’s most critical and beyond challenging life into a mind-frame of footages.

Many many aspects are surrendered to throw in Imran’s way like rivalries with politicians Altaf Hussain and Nawaz Sharif, General Musharraf’s imposing of martial law and beginning of his dictatorial regime, a disturbed marriage with Jemima, libel case against Ian Botham and Allan Lamb, and failure in general elections.

Politics has no bound from here. In the book, he majorly targets former President Pervez Musharraf and his government for being a US ally, and destroying Pakistan’s welfare for many incidents. Cricket fixtures continue to echo in all this. Sandford does increase the volume of Imran over major incidents that occurred in Pakistan cricket like the 2003 World Cup, India’s 2004 tour of Pakistan, and the Hair-Inzamam controversy.

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CLOSING REMARKS

The book from all aspects is a complete Imran Khan book. The first impression of the reader surely comes as a sports biography but the title is enough to convince you that this is the ultimate book where Imran plays three different roles, not only as a cricketer but also as a celebrity and politician.

This book is recommended to those who are seeking for an ultimate biography of Imran Khan. You must remember that you will not be able to read a single word about Imran’s political uprise that began from 2011 after a massive gathering in Lahore because the book was published in 2009. 

But you will be drown in the thickness of recount and probably some details you have never experienced to read. 

The book is absolutely frank about his good deeds and wrong-doings. This biography is absolute and worth reading for all Imran lovers and loonies. The reader will be moved while moving toward different phases of his life. Visualize the footage of the great iconic legend while speaking its pages. 

The Green Downfall & Fish-Slapping Dance

Theory in existence, Corruption in persistence…

Muslims ruled the subcontinent for 1000 years… really?? I don’t know… Anyhow the Britishers came to teach you the difference between leadership and dictatorship with every fish caught and stored in their ship. You were ruled by them and by years oops I mean by decades to come, you successfully certified (dignified) yourself to be ruled in ages and generations to come and salute.

After major efforts of freedom fighters to Control-Alt-Delete the Britishers, you got inter-dependence in 1947. Later on, your father left the nation in higgledy-piggledy and there was a big ” :S ” over leadership to fall over someone’s shoulder. In the next 65 years, your political system and leadership become laughing stock (of exchange) in many regions of human globe of invest-meant. 

More to a mockery of a joke is that it was hard to find a human being to lead the country with green dignity. So the animals used the human brain and ruled you big time. The political world and state of monarchies (and anarchies) expected separation-demanding people to produce green merlins to justify their separate land’s existence. But instead of green merlin, you in fact produced green chaplin, sometimes green dublin, and even green goblin.

So the leadership was tossed between two kinds of rulers. The ones who are in the military (with all their military ranks embarked from Britishers) and the politicians who are greedy of chair to build their own monarchy and throne their generations by mimics, I mean gimmicks (excuse my heart).

The ruling of the country became unstable and it is all after the assassination at Company Bagh, Rawalpindi in 1951, when a heritage of ‘fish-slapping dance‘ begin. The first presidency was proved a vehicle without engine and after many coronary bypass surgeries, the patient chose to share his bed with another patient in 1958. In almost three weeks, both president and army chief played fish-slapping dance on each other. Soon after Mr.president finally drown in water with a heavy halibut-punch, your military began to rule for the next 13 years. So martial law was imposed on the country (three months after the inaugural Nigar Film Awards).

The next two presidential elections in 1960 and 1965 witnessed the same army chief, so no challenge of defeating him in fish-slapping dance until in 1969, the guy of his same army rank punched him Halibut-fish. 1970 witnessed your inaugural gene-rall elections. In order to stabilize the heritage of dance, sardine-fish are distributed in Eastenders while halibut-fish in Westenders. A year later, ‘Finding Nemo‘ is released in December 1971.

The toss changed the fate as the man, who founded Pakistan Peoples Party in 1967, got the leadership as the Halibut-fish remained in his hands for the next 6 years. A warning Kiss over nuclear dilemma in 1976 was enough to pen his book in the prison cell. In 1977, nine political parties challenged him to win the fish-slapper over them. Then the introduction of rigga-rigga was rumored in general elections which controversially outraged the opponents of losing the contest without slapping him. The army interfered again and martial law was imposed for the third time with its leader serving the country for the longest term. 

After the plane crash in Bahawalpur in 1988, the leadership had enjoyed (suffered) almost 30 years of fish-slapping dance. But this time, the transfer of leadership suffered a dissolute passion in shape of disease which spread in all the political parties. That disease was Osgood–Schlatter, which broke all the political movement to knees.

Here comes the voice of anarchy, I mean monarchy (excuse my heart again) as the first lady on earth is historically appointed as PM of Muslim state, I repeat… ‘Muslim’ state!! She leads the country twice but with an incomplete period of time due to dismissal from the president. The reasons were simple, Osgood-Schlatter disease made the government unstable enough to not be able to stand on their feet. Surgeons had pre-informed the patient for knee surgery but she didn’t listen to him.

In the chair-winning race after the plane crash of 1988, further more animals were found in different regions. One city saw a revolution where a minor student organization transform to a major ethnic organization which gave birth to a major party based on their roots to be realized as rejected in many controversial events in the past. The other city came on major hold by a man jumping into politics only to get his family property back snatched by the past government. He expanded his business and political roots stabilized in his region but the disease had no limits.

Finally in 1999, a fish-slapping dance contest was fought between the-then leader and the mercenary. The incidents matched tribute of first ever dance put to formal in 1958, as the army kicked the man the same way and 4th Martial Law was imposed on the country. Next eight years, the man in army boots never let anyone dance with sardine-fish on him. Big names left the country. Years later, they came back. Even the ‘justice league’ of Pakistan (coughs) were put to test the patience. The mercenary stepped down after the 2008 general elections and the country witnessed a real animal winning the presidential election. The country witnessed no-holds-barred in the most corrupted and shameless government ever came to run a 5-year term. Osgood-Schlatter was on it’s Everest-peak and all the fish had committed suicide just at the announcement of the new president being a dog.

In near future, there is a chance that finally the fish will not be tortured, voters won’t bother fingering when the thumb is gifted to mark on hope, international cricket may resume, international-begging may stop, minorities may not suffer, Baluchistan may not be forgotten. Because in these 5 testing years, a major voice became a nationwide revolution of change and call for unity in the development phase. The youth get inspired from all corners and patriotism level got exposure to height after a long time and lanky wait. Recent elections shook the momentum as the evidence caught, proved the general elections one of worst rigga-rigga displays of all time. The old gimmicks had applied to subjugate the land but the harsh truth for all fish-slapping dancers is that change has changed the change.

“A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.” Napolean Bonaparte