An open letter to Gen. Kayani

Dear Sir,

Being a Pakistani, I have great confidence in you, and your force. I have tried to put “our” in here, but I have some stupid friends, and they wont let me do that, and rather insisted on calling it “your” force. My friends are stupid, but I can depend upon them, so can’t risk annoying them. I hope you understand my situation.

It was a great relief to know that the biggest terrorist on the face of earth has been dealt with, and that too on the Land of the Pure. I have always been a great fan of action movies, and I used to wonder if such things, as shown in the movies, do happen in real world? That a bunch of gunmen from an army can get into another country’s land, more than 200 kilometers in, without being noticed, completing their “mission“, without any hurdle, and then calling that country’s government after reaching their bases, only to inform they were there. I used to wonder. But I appreciate you and your force, for helping me overcome my amusement.

My stupid friends still think you knew about it, and because of some complications involved, are unable to acknowledge it, and I want to believe that, but my non-Pakistani friends, here in United Kingdom, expect a more reasonable explaination from me. For them, it was not that big a deal that Osama was hiding in Pakistan, what shocked them more was the news that US Army operated inside Pakistan. The problem is the difference in values in Pakistan and in the United Kingdom. Although not a noteworthy issue in Pakistan, over here people are frightened when a foriegn Army operates in their country. So they are still unable to digest this.

Sir, I know your secret service, ISI, is one of the best in the world. I cant believe them to be unaware of any such operation coming, but they, themselves, are contradicting me, by staying silent. When my friend called me to break this news to me, I was not very hopeful of the civilian leadership, but I thought, never mind, we have General Kayani, and he would be really furios about all this, and he will assume a strong position on this. Yes right, I was not expecting you to retaliate or anything, we already dont expect that, but at the least a strong stance, few harsh words, something to qoute for when my non-Pakistani friends ask me ‘what do you have to say about this?’.

But you, my last hope, disappointed me. I have nothing to say. Its not that I have stopped going to office, or meeting my friends, its just that I sometime feel the absence of a thing called “self-respect”. Yes, you are right, thats not the end of life, one doesn’t need self-respect to breath. Its all about Oxygen, I’m sure you’ll advise. But, somehow, probably because its his death aniversary today, I can’t get rid of Tipu Sultan’s words:

“One days’s life of a lion is preferable to hundred years’ existence of a jackal.”

He probably didn’t know it was all about Oxygen. Science hadn’t been that advanced as yet.

Poor Tipu!

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Yours faithfully,

A humiliated Pakistani.