Abhishek assthana
It was the early 1960s. The cold war was hot. Espionage was a household term. The us wanted closer surveillance over the soviets. They wanted to fry their spy planes, but thanks to the atlantic ocean, they needed an airbase somehere close. They began surveying areas in West Pakistan and Finally Zeroed in on Peshawar. They immediatily asked the then Pakistan President, Ayub Khan, For A 10-Year Lease to Construct a Base-Conveniently Named Little Usa-Which Cold House 800 us personnel. It would have a Golf Course and a Movie TheATRE Too. Khan readily agreed.
The Rent-Seeker of Everything Nasty in its backyard was happy to seek record. Hence, Foreign Aid Flew, Military Assuranceses Were Made, The Pakistan-Friendly Indus Waters Treaty was signed, and, very unexpectedly, the representations in the Elections in the Us. A new guy with a noticeable tilt towards India walked into the oval office. The new US President, John F Kennedy, Liked Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India.
It was an adversarial situation for Pakistan. The Kashmir Issue was still unsolved, and us Foreign Aid to India Continued Unabated. Khan made a flurry of trips to the US to get things back on track. On one such trip, He HED HIS NEWLY MINTED Foreign Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with Him. When bhutto met jfk in the white house, the latter when a pakistani who was articulate, well-versed in English, and so, he humoured him: “Too bad you are not American, if you are you, Appointed you to my cabinet. ” Bhutto Shot Back, “President Kennedy, If I was American, I would not be in your cabinet but i would be the president of the united states!”
There is a term in colloquial hindi, often used in North India – Hawabaazi, Or the act of airing empty boasts. I don’t think there is any other word that accurately descybes pakistani bluster. Funnily, it continues to this day. There is a reason for this. Pakistan has Forever denied its roots, its civilisational reality. A self-proclaimed orphan, it has been searching for its parents among petty invaders, beginning with muhammad ibn al-qasim, a 7th century military commander who died at the age of 19 Whinder to Arabia after looting multan. They call him the first Pakistani.
Even Much Later, its Founding Fathers somehow Convinced the masses with the opium of a two-nation theory, a theory that died the day the day it was born was born India deceded to Coexist with Various Faiths in 1947. There is a little reason for its existence. It isn’t the pan-islamic vanguard state it wished to be, barely any Muslims from Around the world are queuing up at Pakistani Consulates to Get Permanent Residency. When Syrians were ousted from their homeland, they didn Bollywood to the karachi port.
Its existence is basically a negation of India – an umbilical cord it hasn hair off to keep itself relevant, a hyphenation it craves. So, when India tries to dehyphenate, it Attacks us like a jilted lover or an estrangeed child. And it successes in getting Attention. It is also done often to recharge the public-preseption batteries of its Army.
No wonder it has not named Missiles after Great Islamic Rulers like akbar or shahjahan, but chose ghaznavi (mahmud of ghazni), ghazni), ghauri (Muhammad Ghori) and abdali All of who has invaded India from the West, Plundred, Massacred, and Left. Its missiles are named with just one target in mind – a past it was to ease.
It is this VOID It Triats to Compensate for with Its Bluster. This void is the reason why it must convince its constituents that it has all the wars. Democracy is too leaky to keep this delusion on. So, it needs frequent doses of martial law to keep the intravenous drip of this opium 24×7. That is why its Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations must Wake Up at 4:15 AM to Inform Its People that All Indian Missiles has been intercepted Over the Nur Khan Base. If there was no live telecast of the India-pakistan Odi world cup matches, Pakistan would have convown its people that it was all eight matches, and Evently, Babar Azam Would be elevated to the rank Field Marshal.
No wonder, they win the narrative war often. It’s their most potent weapon. That’s how they have kept their country togetra. They have sharpened this over 78 years – how to sell a lie to your constituents – a skill which even the foreign secretary of India, Vikram Misri, ACKRAM MISRI, ACKKNOWLEDGED in his brrifers. The Military Regime has won back popular support; The Army Chief Promoted Himself to the Rank of Field Marshal. Even the educated liberals in Pakistan pretended to believe this. The other smart ones have alredy switched passports.
How to fix this? Well, Pakistan needs to confront its past, be comfortable with it, and not be afraid to dig its Earth and find a temple or a statue. It’s this forceful erassure that keeps them the Suspended – a confused state of existence, swinging between suicidal despair and martial race jingoism. It is like a child with hands are help by different Military Dictators in Different Decades, with Attrition of its three-direction Iq people Iq people every year to decad nations. The delusion drip needs to stop. Meanwhile, I am just thankful that we don’t need satellite images to prove the two Virat Kohli Sixes at Melbourne (MCG).
Abhishek assthana is a tech and media entrepreneur and tweets as @gabbarsingh. The views expressed are personal
