By Muhammad Javed
PAKISTANI NEWS OR BAHRAINI NEWS VERSION?
- I am a senior citizen in the stage called the “bonus life”. My father 96, died four years ago. Till his death he sighed about the “Gora Raj” when life of a commoner was really easy, cheap and safe. Government statements were blindly trusted and taken as guaranteed word. My Grands always wished “Gora Raj” to come back. In my old age, I freshly remember how easy and safe life I enjoyed till the end of Ayub Khan’s era. I saw the deliberately created start of indiscipline in every field both individually and collectively making it a national habit from day one, Zulfiqar Bhutto, the world’s first civilian martial law administrator took the rule. Progress to this indiscipline, chaos, national turmoil, cheating with masses, with each passing time marched past fast. Came Nawaz Sharif the first time, twisted-facts, lies, daylight white lies, false achievements/claims, both from the elite and the functionaries became the coin of the time.
- Our most religious Finance Minister Ishaq Dar; same Mr. Dar who caused a huge penalty to Pakistan for submitting fudged economy figures, last week said that “mehangaai” was now at 46 years lowest in the country. Reading it refreshed that 45 years back in Karachi I used to buy tomato @ 10 or 12 Anna per kilo. The day Ishaq Dar’s above claim appeared, I was simultaneously reading with a colourful photograph of a vegetable vendor’s cart that tomatoes in Islamabad were @ Rs. 200 per kg. Ishaq Dar’s 46 years lowest “mehangaai” and tomato photograph both appearing same day in same space. For this senior citizen, it was in fact Almighty ALLAH’s suo moto.
- Our Foreign Office has announced on July 5, 2016, taking a pride on “self-claimed” achievement, having successfully secured the release of 82 Pakistani prisoners in Bahrain under a royal pardon granted by His Majesty the King of Bahrain on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. The Foreign Office statement emphasized that “the release of a large number of Pakistanis is the result of efforts of Pakistani Ambassador in Bahrain who took up the matter with the relevant authorities in Bahrain”. Special attention appears to had been given that this Statement gets prominent space in almost all the newspapers of Pakistan. Reading this refreshed my memories in this old age that, it was late most senior intellectual Irshad Ahmed Haqqni who, in two series wrote an article titled “Spoots of our Wazart-e-Harjjah”. Somewhere in my old dumped waste I still have it saved. Irshad Haqqani wrote that in order to get postings, extensions and promotions these “spoots” keep feeding back Islamabad with their twisted, fabricated, false self-achievements. It needs remembering that those were the days when “Begumaat” of the senior FO officials had still not started collecting donations from the foreign missions in Pakistan for their private NGOs, no secretary foreign affairs had yet thought of using Rupees 1.30 crore for renovation of his residence from Kashmir Fund etc.
- The Bahrain News Agency (BNA); the official news agency of the Kingdom of Bahrain, had earlier on 30 June 2016 circulated a news item, that His Majesty the King had issued a Royal Decree, pardoning and releasing 559 prisoners who have served part of their jail terms for their good conduct. These 559 released included different nationalities. This royal pardon is an “annual” and “AN AUTOMATIC” Bahrain state’s ritual on the occasions of “Eid” as well as on 16 December, Bahrain’s National Day every year.