The poignancy of the betrayal of Imran Khan by Usman Dar did not lie in the fact that he was the head of the Insaf Tiger Force, as the timing. It came hot on the heels of the revelation that there was an attempt to poison Imran (that was the reason given by his wife for wanting him to get food from home, rather than be given the jail food).
Dar can claim to have stood fast, and refused to betray his principles. After all, he has left politics, rather than join the Istehkam Pakistan Party, or the PTI Parliamentarians. He also chose to make clear his condemnation of the PTI and all its works, especially its actions on May 9, on a TV talk show, rather than the usual press conference. Does this mean that the departure by the few remaining prominent leaders of the PTI will be made in a different setting? Will Ali Amin Gandapur, for example, turn up inside the ring of the Lucky Irani Circus, make the expected announcement before being shot out of a cannon. Is Umar Ayub going to make the announcement while climbing the hill to Daman-i-Koh? Or out jogging?
The claim of a plot to poison Imran seems to have more to do with a yearning to fight dragons than with any real plot. Is Imran going to claim that ‘they’ have a rare Asiatic poison, odourless, tasteless, which produces the symptoms of a heart attack, but which cannot be detected in a post mortem? And he is 71, and though in excellent health, still, he is of an age when one can pass at any time, especially in jail.
It seems that he doesn’t like Adiala Jail, having gotten used to Attock Jail. Of course, he had applied for the transfer. Of course, it wasn’t as unlucky for him as it was for Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged there. Because of that, I suppose you couldn’t blame Imran for getting a little nervous, but then, Bhutto wasn’t betrayed by Usman Dar, was he? More worrisome in the possibility of more interviews on TV.
Plus I’m not sure Imran is entirely happy with the coverage of the World Cup he is getting. Of course, in Pakistan’s opening match the Dutch did about as well as could be expected, giving away only one wicket to Shaheen Shah Afridi, and thus foiled him in his pursuit to be on the The opening match was not the same page.usual Pakistan versus India match, but a replay of the 2019 final, England versus New Zealand. That had been a good match. This wasn’t really, with a lot of fans coming dressed as empty seats.
I wonder where the BJP stands on this whole World Cup thing. I suppose so long as the Indian team avoids the polluting touch of the Pakistan team, it’s OK. So I suppose the biggest nightmare would be for Pakistan to reach the final with India, and then beat it to win. I don’t look very kindly on that prospect either, because I’m not sure that Babar Azam as Prime Minister would be the most appetizing of prospects.
And what would he raise funds for? Another cancer hospital? Or maybe a kidney centre. Or maybe some other team wins. Will they have to make their captain PM sometime in the future? Imagine Afghanistan winning. And their captain joining the Taliban. He won’t have to build even a neighbourhood dispensary. Just fire a burst in the air. And there you would have a future Emir of Afghanistan.
Of course, that pales in comparison with what is happening in the Gaza Strip, after Palestinian missile attacks and infiltrations of gunmen led to 232 Palestinians being killed, as well as 250 Israelis. That has got to be the worst violence there in a very long time.
I see that our Foreign Office has called for an end to the violence. Right, so that the Palestinians can go back to being targets. Well, they’re targets now, and Hamas showed more bravado than brains in launching the attacks. Were they trying to prove that the Israelis can be brutal in their occupation? Something tells me there won’t be a ceasefire until the Netanyahu government has drunk its fill of Palestinian blood. And I’m sure that the Foreign Office genius who drafted that response wears a bow tie. And parts his hair in the middle. He probably also wears suspenders, but I’m not certain.
