Neshta bang da muezzin pa drust Tirah
Magar wawre bang da charg pa seharga
Ka Orakzai sarasar wara gumrah di
Afridi di tar gumrahu la gumrah
Da Islam arkan ehkam halal shta
Afridi Orakzai na di pe agah
Na e munz da janaze na e Imam shta
Na Zakat na sarsaya na da zra tarah

(In entire Tirah is not to be heard the muezzin calling,
Save of course the cock crowing in the morning,
Granted, Orakzai are incorrigible in a class of their own
But Afridi surpass them in all manners is well known
In Islam there are tenets as regards licit and illicit,
To the Afridi and Orakzai such niceties are unknown
Having no Imam, funeral prayer to them is not known
Quite oblivious of alms, of fear their hearts are absolutely shorn)

It could be none other than the 17th century no-holds-barred Pashtun warrior poet, Khushal Khan Khattak, writing such fearless but doubtlessly matter of fact poetry. Khushal was a frequent visitor to the verdant Tirah Valley in pursuit of his numerous passions of which he has revealed every little bit in his voluminous poetry. He literally used his pen at par with his formidable sword, sparing neither the king nor his own son and his luckless mother and nor even the people he loved to dwell among.

True, Khushal was not infallible, but he was true to a word in his observations of the conduct of the people he came in contact with. It is quite an irony that the people whose religious credentials he questioned and bemoaned in his poetry could now be seen waging a war against those whom they consider less puritan. One cannot do much but look helplessly at the unfolding scenes in this grotesque comedy being staged in the supremely beautiful scenery of Tirah Valley.

One of the protagonists in the drama is a former bus conductor from the tribe of Afridis. Apart from being a formidable schemer and a relentless fighter, the lorry conductor also earned a fame of sorts for being a ruthless dispenser of justice to the great chagrin of the ordinary dispensers of justice appointed under the dictates of law. If one has to believe in all the accounts being carried by the vernacular press than this particular felon has had as many shaves with death as our neighbour’s pet cat while skirting the wheels of every next car.

It cannot be gainsaid that this particular phase in our history bears the so many familiar, and not quite familiar, features of a religious conflict. Even a cursory reading of the history would reveal that for eons any short or prolonged incidence of peace on the lands that we inhabit has been little more than a pause between two internecine conflicts.

While the past invasions from our lands had mostly to do with an insatiable lust for treasures, including of course those of Mahmud of Ghazni whose zealotry would be aped many centuries later in Bamyan, the ongoing conflict is an out-and-out war that bears all the hallmarks of faith related issues.

One needs not search the distant past to know where it all started. It all started some three and a half decade ago with Charlie Wilson’s war in the wake of Soviet intrusion into the desolate landscape of Afghanistan. Not that there prevailed an exemplary state of freedom of thought and speech on our land before the Texas congressman jumped in the fray, but there was at least that modicum of respect for some values.

To make the Soviets lick the dust, the Americans, led by their playboy congressman, fell to thus far unheard of depths of moral decadence. Afghan children languishing in camps all across Pakistan were handed out war syllabus containing diabolical illustrations to explain alphabets. It was an unprecedented assault on the inchoate minds. Perhaps the perpetrators could not foresee the ramifications of their folly. One wonders if Americans at large will ever realize what machinations they had employed to defeat the erstwhile Soviet Union.

These are indeed Orwellian times on our soil. Orwellian neologisms like thought crime, thought police, double think etc sound so relevant, and even more draconian and scary if one has to consider that even individuals and otherwise legitimate groups of professionals have now assumed the roles of watchdogs of virtues and sins. There appear to be few takers as far as reason is concerned.

Despite all that the Pashtun bard experienced at the hands of Emperor Aurangzeb, Khushal lived in really blissful times since he could say and write what pleased him most. Nearly 350 years after his death, one dreads reading Khushal’s poetry in an age where enlistment for visits to Mars is the talk of the world.

A sign of the stultifying times we live in: we caution our children to beware of the fly on the wall even while speaking what must otherwise be absolutely true.

In KP, with a population of over 20 million, there are just three or four bookshops selling reading material other than textbooks. In the Orwellian fashion people must read only what the ideologues recommend. Sadly enough nobody seem to mind this, and hence the all-pervasive growth of bigotry.

Joe Klein is an American, and a Jewish at that. He writes for TIME. In his latest article, Klein accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of winning a tragic election by vilifying Arabs and defacing Israel’s history. ‘Netanyahu won because he ran as a bigot,’ wrote Klein.

In a very small way this Jewish American writer by speaking the truth is atoning for the sins of Charlie. Will the bigots in our ranks let us make atonement for their endless lists of sins, please?

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play