I WRITE this from New York where I am staying with my buddy Masood Haider whose reports you read in this newspaper of record, and what a time I am having walking in Central Park and along the noisy, pulsating streets of this great city.

And travelling in the bustling subway with its air-conditioned trains that take you all over the city for just $2.25 a ride. New York is one of my very favourite cities, up there with London and Tokyo and Rome: I just love its spirit.

Let me report too, that as usual I sailed right through immigration at JFK, this time in two minutes flat. The young immigration officer who processed my papers was polite to a fault and even though the airline (no, not PIA) had handed me the wrong form, first looked for the form in his cubicle, then directed me to where they were lying in the hall and asked me to come to the head of the queue when I was ready. As easy as that.

Central Park was as lovely as always when Masood and I walked through it to the West side where I had to pay my customary homage to Zabar’s, the finest cook-shop and delicatessen in the whole wide world. The sheer range of the food, prepared and otherwise, is staggering and the quality out of this world. No visit to New York City is complete without a visit or three to Zabar’s! The news on television and in the papers of course, is all about Pakistan and how to deal with it after over 30 people were arrested by its ‘agencies’ (and who are so far disappeared including the poor milkman) for allegedly tipping off the Americans about Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad Cantonment.

Everybody is asking why they were arrested when all they were doing was helping an ally of Pakistan’s to get to and kill a terrorist who was responsible for not only killing Americans but tens of thousands of Pakistanis?

In response, influential legislators are demanding that benchmarks specifying certain actions must be set and that no military aid should be given unless those benchmarks are met by Pakistan.

Whilst I have been advocating benchmarks since the procrastination of the military in going into Swat despite the reign of terror unleashed by Maulvi Nek Mohammad’s terrorists, it is about time the Americans applied them and dispensed aid only after these were reached. For that is the only way the Deep State will do the right thing, i.e., stop mollycoddling some terrorists.

I don’t buy it as I will explain later, but if first the New York Times and now the AP story about Ashfaq Kayani feeling the heat from his command about what happened in Abbottabad, and (because the army is the self-appointed Keeper of our Ideology and so on and so forth) at the Mehran naval airbase in Karachi are true, the commanders of the Deep State themselves bear all the blame.

For they have mindlessly danced to the tune of the hard-right jihadist-Taliban print journalists and their co-travellers in the electronic media, particularly those I call the ‘raucous’ ones.

The Deep State itself, while depending on American largesse in the shape of defence equipment and cash has deliberately also fuelled anti-Americanism to show itself, hypocritically of course, as being more ‘patriotic’ than the ‘bloody civilians’ in the elected government, if only to get the approval of the hard right sections of the media.

Given the stridency with which their commanders have always announced how invincible they are, what else should the rank and file feel but disappointment at the facility with which the Americans took out Bin Laden, and with which six terrorists kept the whole blessed navy and a battalion strength of the army at bay while destroying both of its remaining Orion aircraft?

Why am I sceptical about these stories? Because I know firsthand from the sons of friends who are mid-level officers in the army that the plot culture that has taken hold of the senior officer class has grown downwards to include officers with even 10 and 12 years service to become eligible for these handouts if they are good boys.

Add to this the senior ranks tally of several plots — four by the time they get to lieutenant general (when he appointed himself chief executive, the Commando declared seven if memory serves) — collected over the years and the prospect of heading one of the army’s business ventures and you have an officer corps totally beholden to its superiors in whose power it is to hand out these money spinners.

Barring jihadis, therefore, of which there should be a number, albeit not so large yet, I doubt that there would be a groundswell of opinion against the sitting chief.

In a clear sign that no lessons have been learnt by the Deep State, there was another arrogant statement from the ISPR, this time about the perceived public impression that the ISI is involved in Saleem Shahzad’s murder.

Voicing concern over “unfounded and baseless insinuations being voiced ... against ISI”, the statement goes on to assert, “such negative aspersions and accusations were also voiced against ISI in some previous cases but investigations proved those wrong”. By God, the temerity. Might one ask the spokesperson to name a single ‘previous case’ that has been investigated and the ISI cleared? Just one?

Oh, and yes: the Americans have announced that they will replace the two Orion aircraft. Where, pray, are the Ghairat Brigades now? Where is PESA which actually demanded that Raymond Davis be water-boarded? The Orions must never be accepted, gentlemen: our ghairat has had it otherwise.

kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk