TRUMP CHARACTERISTICS: The election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States is a reminder of the change the world has undergone. When potential presidential candidate Nelson Rockefeller had married a second time, he was compared to the Duke of Windsor who had abdicated the British throne to marry an American divorcee. Till then, no one who had married a second time could hope to become the US president. Ronald Reagan became the first. No one with three marriages had held the US presi-dency till Trump did it. He has other distinctions as well, being the only person to be elected as a convicted felon, and the only person who masterminded an attack on the Capitol Hill. Welcome to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

Shamim Ahmad
Islamabad

PASSPORT WOES: I recently visited the passport office in Rawalpindi for the renewal of my passport. After I had deposited the fee, the person issuing the tokens raised an objection on my Lahore address. It was ironically the very day the director-general of passport had annou-nced that passports would be issued by all offices regardless of one’s address. I then visited the passport office in I-10, Islam-abad. After a three-hour wait, the official rejected my case and rudely ordered me to deposit the fee again at the same bank’s Islamabad branch. All my requests went in vain. The argument that the amount had been deposited into a Government of Pakistan account and that should suffice did not hold water for him. I wonder if Rawalpindi and Islamabad are two separate states, or if we are still lagging behind in terms of technology.

Muhammad Yasar Saadat
Taxila

UMRAH VISA FEE: These days, one has to pay around Rs40,000 per person as Umrah visa fee without exception for anyone, including infants. The Saudi government should review its policy and reduce the relevant charges. Moreover, it should also give a discount for children up to a certain age, and completely exempt infants from any Umrah visa fee.

Khawaja Tajammul Hussain
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024