Sometimes you can't help wondering why men like Trump and Imran Khan are born and allowed to grow up. Of course there have been others like them (Modi and Hitler) who have done incalculable harm to the planet. It's almost as if Mother Nature wants humans to destroy the planet so that it can take another million years to return to normal (without humans, of course). The world is in turmoil due to Trump imposing excessive tariffs on all goods imported by the US. This will increase prices of almost everything bought by Americans who are the laziest people on earth. It's impossible for the US to set up new factories to manufacture what it imports. Clothes will become expensive, gas and electricity prices will rise and food will become costly. With the mass deportation of immigrants, labour will be hard to find (most Americans can’t do any physical work). This madness will end only when Trump's party is soundly defeated in state elections soon. Already the signs of Trump's growing unpopularity are evident. His heavily supported candidate recently lost in Wisconsin to a candidate supported by Democrats. If he doesn't reverse what he's done, the people will come out on the streets and he will have to resign (as happened with Nixon). Let’s hope it happens soon.

 

 Introspection is an integral part of Eid

AFTER successfully outlasting the holy month of Ramazan, we celebrate Eidul Fitr today with joy, thanksgiving and relief. Fasting in Ramazan is supposed to teach Muslims self-discipline, self-control and sacrifice. It also teaches us the significance of empathy for the poor, and that explains the spirit of charity during the sacred month.

One of my earliest memories is my father taking me to a shoe shop on Eid day to buy new shoes. Yes, such shops used to be open on Eid days in the 1950s. I am reluctant to say what he paid for the pair, as it would make my grandchildren think that I need urgent psychiatric treatment.

I would be delirious with happiness when receiving Eidi from an uncle (usually a rupee coin). Today’s children tend to think you are a cheapskate even if you give them a thousand-rupee note.

Sad to say, the Eid spirit of those days is no longer there. In Ramazan, our shopkeepers go on a looting spree, raising the prices of edibles and almost every item. Compare this to the huge discounts offered by shops in Western countries ahead of Christmas, and even Eid.

Those of us who were able to survive the holy month without being mugged or blown up should be grateful. There are at least 80 million Pakistanis who do not have enough to eat. Then there are those whose incomes are barely enough to help them subsist.

You cannot blame them for feeling bitter about the huge increase in salaries of our lawmakers, or for having paid through their noses during Ramazan for eatables, clothes and everything else just to enable the exploiters to pay for their annual vacations.

And let us not forget the 22-year-old Karachi woman who was crushed to death in Ramazan in a stampede to collect charity ration for the family. The household, like many others, will spend the day in mourning. Or those whose loved ones were slaughtered by terrorists during the holy month.

Oh, yes, there are those who will have much cause to celebrate, like our parliamentarians who awarded themselves an astronomical increase in salaries, the unscrupulous importers who managed to loot billions in the recent Customs scam, and the sugar mafia that exported what it called surplus sugar so that prices would rise from Rs130 to Rs180 per kg.

So, the signs pointing to more pain and agony in the coming months, let us hope and pray that we survive until the next Ramazan. Eid Mubarak to one and all!

Shakir Lakhani

March 31, 2025

https://www.dawn.com/news/1901432/introspection-is-an-integral-part-of-eid

despite all

 

 Every year there is a controversy over the Eid moon sighting in Pakistan due to some witnesses suddenly appearing two hours after sunset (after the moon has been sighted in Saudi Arabia). This year the moon surprisingly caused a controversy due to its appearance when there was practically no chance of its doing so.

The Saudis had announced beforehand that Eid would be celebrated on Monday, probably because of the solar eclipse on the twenty ninth day of Ramazan. But then they found that the new moon could be visible for eight minutes after sunset. Knowing that most Muslims would be involved in stuffing themselves at the time to break their fasts, they asked foreigners particularly to scan the heavens and report if they saw the moon. So, many people saw it, not only in Saudi Arabia, but also in the UAE and Qatar. Which is why this year too, Eid will be celebrated a day earlier in the Middle East than Pakistan and India.

I knew that this could happen, because the Bohris also have their Eid today. Their Egyptian calendar always has Eid on those days as Saudi Arabia, probably because they devised it with Makkah as the focal place. Anyway, it's almost certain that the moon will be sighted in Pakistan today, and since it will be 27 hours old, it will seem to be much larger, which will probably cause illiterates to say that our Eid too should also have been today.

In this day and age, no Muslim needs the advice of the nearby mosque's imam, the internet is enough to answer any question he may have. But in Pakistan we have the Council of Islamic Ideology that is composed of men who have mindsets of people who lived in the Stone Age. I have written elsewhere that clerics like them should migrate to an island where there are no women.

The latest blow to women's rights by these bigots is astounding. They have never accepted the fact that Muslim men should take permission from their existing wives before taking other wives. After all, the only thing most Pakistani Muslim men know about Islam is that they can have four wives and they can divorce by simply pronouncing "talak" three times. The 1961 Family Law bequeathed to us by Ayub Khan stipulates that a man cannot take another wife unless his first wife agrees. But this is anathema to most moulvis. So, when the apex court ruled that a woman has the right to divorce if her husband takes another wife without her permission, these bigots (Council of Islamic Ideology) were incensed. They say that the Supreme Court's decision is against Islam and Sharia. This is just the kind of thing that gives Islam a bad name. Next thing you know, they will say that a woman who asks for a divorce should immediately be killed.

 NOT UNUSUAL: This is with reference to the report “PIA aircraft’s missing wheel found at Karachi airport” (March 15). It is believed that PK-306 lost one of its wheels after it struck an object on the runway at Karachi. The incident was handled casually by the airline, probably because it takes such things as normal. I hope we do not get to see news items like ‘PIA plane lands with only one engine running’, or ‘PIA crew makes successful landing despite the pilot being fast asleep’.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2025

https://www.dawn.com/news/1899796/going-home-for-eid

Aslam was an average Memon, uneducated and moderately religious. He had seen his father die at the age of 63, suffering from diabetes and heart disease. So he should have taken extra care, but no, that would have meant eating only what was necessary and walking a lot. He believed firmly that no matter what he did, he would suffer if it was in his stars. As for dying early, that had been decided even before he was born, so there was no sense worrying about death.

So he went on stuffing himself and leading a sedentary life, developing diabetes and heart problems. He never had a regular job, for many years he had subsisted on charity, yet he fathered five children, because he had heard countless times that those who practiced birth control would be consigned to the fire. 

So, at the age of 58, he passed away. I know most Pakistanis won't agree, but if he had been educated, his fate would have been different. He would have known that diabetes can be controlled, he would have known that obesity results in many diseases, but no, to believe such things is akin to blasphemy. His poor wife (who works as a maid and cleaning woman) will now have to raise those five children (the youngest is just ten months old). 

In case no one has noticed, there is a civil war raging in the country. Every day, there are attacks by terrorists in KP on the police and the army. We all know who the killers are and why they're doing it. Imran Khan allowed forty thousand terrorists to return to the country from Afghanistan, assuming that by doing so, his vote bank would increase and he would gain the support of the locals. But if there's one thing about the Taliban that everyone knows, it's that they cannot be trusted. 

For some reason, Pakistanis are a violent people. The other day a man shot a woman and her uncle for refusing his proposal to marry her. Yesterday a man killed his fasting mother because she didn't provide breakfast on time. The father of the notorious killer Armaghan threatened to kill the prosecutor and the investigating officer. All this in the sacred month of Ramazan when Muslims are supposed to fast and control themselves. 

Perhaps it's because of poverty and joblessness. Unemployed men tend to gather in mosques where they are told about the glorious days when Muslims ruled the world and how it can be done again (by killing those who are not true Muslims). It'll be a long time before the killings will stop.

 A couple of days back the blood pressure of my 85 year old cousin dropped suddenly while he was driving. His car damaged two vehicles as he passed out. He has been the healthiest relative of mine, so I was really shocked. I gave up driving after ramming into the barriers outside the building I live in two years back.

This year my health has noticeably declined. This winter, which ended last week, I had intense pain in my legs. I used to hear from old people about such things but I never expected that it would happen to me. In the morning, it takes me a long time to get out of bed. I've also lost my balance a couple of times. I hope I don't end up with a broken hand or leg. So what can I do? I've seldom taken pain killers, but now it looks like I will have to. Fortunately I'm still able to walk three or four kms daily, though not as fast as previously.

Civil Servants

Published in Dawn, March 15, 2025

THE richest man on Earth, Elon Musk, considered by many to be the de facto president of the United States, recently asked government employees to state what work they had done in the preceding week. I was wondering what the response of Pakistan’s civil servants would be if they were asked to present a similar status report.

It can be said with certainty that out of every 10 employees, half of them would say that they turned up for work only on one day in the month, and that was to collect their salary cheques. Three of them would say that even though they went to the office daily, they did not know what to do there, as no one had explained it to them.

One out of 10 would probably be vacationing with their families outside the country, spending their hard-earned money lying in foreign bank accounts. That leaves just one out of the 10 who is the person who does the actual work.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1897972/civil-servants

 

 Mohsin Naqvi has a tremendous responsibility, being the country's interior minister. Yet he's been spending more time managing the cricket team and the recently concluded Champions Trophy. Why should he have two jobs? He's so out of touch with reality that a few days back he claimed that the Baloch rebels were so weak that a mere SHO (a low ranking police official) could get rid of them. But yesterday's attack on a train in Baluchistan proves that the rebels are highly organized and can inflict massive damage to the country.

The hijacking of the train was obviously done with inside help. It's just like the situation in East Pakistan before it became Bangladesh. The Shehbaz Sharif government is busy increasing the perks and privileges of its ministers instead of concentrating on improving security. The train hijacking has brought to the attention of the whole world to Baluchistan. India of course is delighted. 

Mohsin Naqvi should resign immediately.