Israel's so-called "victory" is anything but that

Both Trump and Netanyahu have proclaimed that the Gaza cease fire agreement is a victory for Israel, but they're both mistaken. Israel has actually lost the war and has lost the support of most Americans and Europeans. In years to come, Israel will do everything it can to sabotage the agreement, but it won't have the backing of those who were its allies until now.

Even a significant number of Israelis have turned against Netanyahu's government. During Trump's speech in the Israeli parliament, some members openly called for recognition of Palestine. In the US, opinion polls show that a majority (including Jews) believe that Israel has committed genocide. It seems that every American under the age of 30 is against Israel, and there will be immense pressure on the US government to curtail military aid to the apartheid state.

The best thing would be for Netanyahu and his hawkish ministers to be tried by the International Court of Justice and sentenced to prison terms, but of course that is not likely to happen soon.

A different approach (dealing with India)

Published in Dawn on October 12, 2025

WITH the Bihar elections in India due soon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his henchmen are likely to do their best to blame Pakistan for all their failures. They want their people to believe that Pakistan is responsible for all their problems, including the fact that 40 per cent Indians are living below the poverty line, and many children have died after consuming contaminated cough syrups.

I suggest that instead of responding to any threats hurled by Indians, we should stay calm and not respond in kind. The best thing to do, of course, is to pretend that India does not exist, but since that is not possible, we should find an alternative way.

We could, for instance, point out that India could solve most of its problems by reducing its defence budget by half, and spend the money saved to feed its hungry masses. We could suggest that India would be better off buying fighter jets and missiles manufactured in Pakistan instead of France. Of course, the Indian government would not respond, but at least our offer would go some way towards convincing ordinary Indians not to fall for Pakistan-bashing.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1948353/a-different-approach

History proves that Israel can never be trusted

The cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel has been approved by both parties. Initially, Hamas will release forty eight hostages and Israel will set free a couple of thousand Palestinians in its jails. Israel may do this, but knowing how it has behaved in the past, it's doubtful if it will honor the other clauses in the agreement. Israel has consistently violated all previous agreements, including the Oslo accords, that stipulated the creation of a Palestinian state.

Most Western countries support Israel, despite evidence that a majority of their populations are sympathetic to Palestinians. Even Sweden supports the apartheid state, despite the evidence of its famous activist Greta Thunberg that she and other flotilla activists was severely maltreated after being arrested by the Israelis. 

We can be sure that Israel will go on killing innocent Palestinians, seizing their land and committing genocide as long as it has the support of the US and other Western countries. It will never agree to the formation of a Palestinian state. Perhaps the growing support for Palestine in the US may persuade American politicians to insist that Israel agree to give freedom to the Arabs but it won't happen soon. In the meantime, South Africa should insist that Netanyahoo be tried for genocide by the International Court of Justice.

More non-Muslims supporting Palestinians

For some reason, we see more and more non-Muslim states openly opposing Israel. On the other hand, leaders of Muslim countries are lukewarm in their statements. Until recently, Pakistan's position was that there should be no Israel, the country should be known as Palestine. Now it supports a two-state solution. Israel, of course, will never agree to it. As far as Arab countries are concerned, the UAE actually has recognized the apartheid state, while even Saudi Arabia appears to be neutral. Why is this so?

The only reason is that Arab states are more scared of Palesinians than of Israel. Too much oil wealth has made them soft and scared to fight. In fact, there is only one Arab country which is prepared to take on Israel, and that is Yemen. The only Muslim country which is directly fighting Israel is Iran (a non-Arab country). Pakistan is another country which has fought wars, but it is not in Israel's neighborhood, so a direct confrontation with Israel is not possible.

Whatever the reason, leaders of Muslim countries will have to unite and prevent Israel and India from invading neighboring countries. 

Disqualified or not

Published in DAWN on April 27, 2013

THE Election Commission of Pakistan has reportedly not disqualified some people who have submitted fake degrees.

One is tempted to ask about the use of Articles 62 and 63 if wrongdoers are not restrained from contesting elections. Knowing the mindset of the majority of our voters (who mostly vote on a caste basis), immoral and corrupt people will be elected again, giving them ample time to loot the country.

The next government should do it immediately.

Shakir Lakhani,

Karachi

Nationalisation of education

Published in Dawn on April 27, 2013

I SEE returning officers behaving like Taliban, when I see lawyers garlanding a man who killed the Punjab governor in full view of the public, when I read of a judge who acquitted three rapists (despite DNA tests proving their guilt) because the rape victim could not produce the mandatory four witnesses to the crime. 

When I see all this, I know that this almost total collapse of society is due to the nationalisation of education by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first and the only civilian martial law administrator of the country.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

15 year old girl allowed to be married by an IHC judge!

I was not at all surprised when the learned Justice Mohammed Azam Khan of the Islamabad High Court did not annul the marriage of an under-age girl and allowed her to live with her husband (whose age was definitely more than 18). For those who don't know, the minimum age for marriage in Pakistan is 18, but in practice this is widely flouted. Practically every male in Pakistan considers himself an expert on Sharia (without ever having read it), so he naturally assumes that a girl should be married off the day she finishes her first period. There is therefore no way of preventing this, as even a judge of the high court believes it.

Around the time I was 15, two girls in my neighborhood (both sisters definitely aged less than 18), were married off. There was a German engineer and his wife who were employed by the girls' father at the time. The German woman actually wept and asked the father of the girls why he was giving away two helpless children so soon. I think the father must've said the usual thing about all Muslims being ordered to do so.

Come to think of it, even some US states allow girls as young as 14  to marry. So I guess we shouldn't be shocked that there are more than 19 million child brides in Pakistan.

UK minister resigns after cheating on property tax

Strange people

Published in DAWN on September 29, 2024 

 

BRITISH deputy prime minister Angela Rayner had to resign recently when it was discovered that she had cheated the government by not paying the full amount of property tax on her apartment. While accepting responsibility is a common practice in certain parts of the world, Pakistani politicians must have been shocked beyond belief. Has anybody heard of ministers in Pakistan paying property tax at all? And why should someone have to resign for something that is the norm in Pakistan? I will not be surprised if some of them believe that this is one of those `London plans` that are concocted every few years to destabilise the government. Pakistan should make it clear to the British government that such resignations are not in Pakistan`s interest, and that nothing of the sort should be allowed the next time one of their ministers is found to have been dishonest.

It is a matter of national interest, after all.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImagae=29_09_2025_007_006

Why do Pakistanis get so emotional about cricket?

Embed from Getty Images

It's happening again. Today is the Asia Cup Cricket final between arch rivals India and Pakistan. Even though Pakistan is a much weaker team than India (it has already lost two matches to it), TV channels are showing children, men and women confidently predicting that Pakistan will win (it'll be a miracle if it does). But just think of this: the people who are so confident are mostly those who've never played the game. In fact, burqa clad women, heavily bearded old men, school girls and children are the so-called "experts" interviewed by the media. I doubt if they even know how to spell cricket, yet they solemnly assert that our team will emerge as the champions. Naturally, I hope their prediction turns out to be true, but what if it does? Will it mean that we have won a war and India will allow us to walk into Kashmir?

If our team wins, our media will have nothing to talk about for the next few days. Again, experts will give their views on why we won. The same children, men and women will claim that they're the ones who should be thanked for our victory. 

56th Independence Day

Published in The News on August 29, 2002 

With reference to the letter "Could be 56th!" by Hafiz Sultan Ahmed (25th August), the writer doesn't understand how Pakistan celebrated its 56th independence day this year on August 14. He's not the only Pakistani who is confused about it. The massive nationalisation of schools and colleges by ZAB has ensured that Pakistan will always remain a backward country, where graduates are unable to determine their own ages, nor able to compose a simple letter of application for a job, and sometimes one comes across college principals who cannot sign their own names!

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi