Notes in Anguish

The recent killings of many uniformed personnel in Baluchistan is the first indication that things in Pakistan have slumped to the state of the country as in 1971, which resulted in the breakup of the country and the formation of Bangladesh. The army, with its formula of resorting to brute force in order to keep itself… →

Brig Saadullah Khan, Hilal e Jurat, took over command of 14 Punjab Regiment at Kasur in mid-1966. It was my proud privilege, as it was for the others, to have served under him. He was born to train men, to lead them, and to get the best out of them. He came to us on promotion.… →

To say that Pakistan was mired neck-deep in problems would be the understatement of the millennium. That every day it was digging itself deeper into the hole it wanted to get out of can clearly be seen by all, except those doing the digging. And if someone tries to draw their attention to this problem,… →

Gen Faiz Hameed’s arrest is a significant step by our high command towards adopting the Burma Model of governance for Pakistan. This model envisages rule by the generals till the trumpet has sounded to usher in Judgement Day. On Sep 24, 2022, I discussed where I thought Pakistan may be headed with a good friend.… →

PART 1. As I write these words, Gaza has become the greatest contest in history between unrestrained brutality and epic courage, sustained by sacrifice beyond imagination and overseen by the unmatched hypocrisy of the most civilized. A demonically brainwashed IDF [the Israel Defence Force], taught since early childhood to view the Palestinians as subhuman, and… →

When student protests erupted in Bangladesh in early July 2024, the trigger grievance was government job quotas, but the underlying spirit which galvanized the movement was Sheikh Hasina Wajid’s brutal and ever-expanding dictatorship. This affected not only students, but a better part of society in Bangladesh. Thus, as the movement gained ground, it was joined… →

Over the last two years, Imran Khan has had a couple of hundred cases slapped on him. Their purpose was to break him. But the “Iddat” case was distinct in nature. The purpose of this was to humiliate and ridicule him for the pleasure of the pimps and thugs who are currently employed in the… →

Life in Bangladesh has been brought to a halt by shoot-to-kill curfews to keep the students off the streets. They want job quotas to be done away with, and are willing to fight to the death to have their demands met. The deeper cause of the unrest however is the claustrophobia of the last 15… →

There’s a story from the mid-1960s about a commanding officer of a unit who ran out of cash during a card game at the local club. About midnight, he had the regimental treasury chest opened and a thousand rupees brought to him. When the game ended before dawn, he had recovered his losses and had the… →

For weeks now, Mr Justice Athar Minallah [long may he live] has been the torch-bearer for the State and the Constitution in our Supreme Court. But ones who claim to know better assert that the verdict in the reserved seats case depended primarily on the position that Justice Mansoor Ali Shah took in the case.… →

The flame of revenge lit by impotent rage and helplessness can become the hottest of fires. The greater the oppression, the more the helplessness, and the greater the hatred engendered. Many seeds of burning vengeance get to be implanted in this set of circumstances. Some of us experience something akin to this phenomenon in poorly… →

Kill the Shine and Break the Shape. Those of us who were commissioned in the 1960s or earlier would surely be able to recall the adage that “patrolling” was the acid test of an infantry unit’s training, and much depended on the excellence in “field craft” for its success. And field craft began with camouflage and… →