Maybe we should think of Donald Trump in the way we think of our property dealers. Y’know, imagine him wearing white shoes, (without benefit of socks), a parna over his shoulder, a white topi on his head. A chain around his neck, packet of imported cigarettes in his hand, not to forget the butane lighter along with it. That is the uniform of the man who deals in property. Maybe we should call him Haji Donald, in the tradition of our own dealers.
Do you want a division of US troops? Get in touch with Haji Donald, who can get you the best deal. Just pay in mining rights. Or if, unlike Ukraine, you don’t have rare-earth minerals, like the Palestinians of Gaza, you have land, and land can be plotted. Now the fashion is for themes. Gaza is the proposed ‘Riviera of the East’. I suppose Srinagar could be developed as a hill resort. Imagine a corner plot in either of these places. Haji Donald is the man to get in touch with.
It’s time we accept as our national hero a property dealer. Like Malik Riaz. I mean, that’s what the world’s sole superpower has now done, twice. Instead of hounding him into exile, he should be rewarded with the Prime Ministership.
Instead, we rewarded Imran Khan. Now as the Champion’s Trophy showed, you can’t depend on cricketers. We got beaten by India, which was diplomatically the right thing to do, but it left us depending on Bangladesh for our chances of getting into the semifinal. They should have beaten New Zealand. Yeah, right. Like that was going to happen. It didn’t,
Another unlikely result was Afghanistan beating Australia, but a few people expected it, on the strength of Afghanistan having beaten England. Well, their history of beating England goes back to 1842, and extends to fields other than cricket. Like the 1842 slaughter of a British occupying force. If I was Russia or the USA, I wouldn’t play Afghanistan in any sport. On the other hand, they don’t really have any quarrel with Australia.
Afghanistan refused to become an English colony, but the same can’t be said about Ireland, and it was indeed the first English colony. It was even more of a colony than either Afghanistan or India, for England actually sent over people there, starting in the 16th century. As the English government had recently become Protestant, it was the beginning of the travails of that country. Ireland was also the first colony to win freedom, first as the Irish Free State, and then the Republic. Azad Jammu and Kashmir is also a free state, being part of a country freed from foreign occupation, the rest being still occupied. Just as England occupied Northern Ireland, India still occupies part of Kashmir.
The death of actor Gene Hackman at 95, along with his wife, Betsy Arakwa, 65, was a mystery, because one couldn’t find any wounds, or gas leak, or any real reason. True, Hackman had attained a great age, but his wife hadn’t.. We’ll never know, I suppose.
I’m not sure that’s how we should welcome Ramazan, however, It’s interesting, as the earlier fasts are going to be a piece of cake, but they’ll be both longer and hotter towards the end. I see that the Arab countries started their Ramazan a day before we did. There’s been a tendency to have Eid on the same day over the last few years. Let’s see this year. That could happen if the Arab countries went to 30 fasts, and we ended at 29. Of course, we could see the moon along with them, but if they had 29, we would be one short. But if the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee is not in session, how can the moon be sighted?
