Waseem Shehzad
One of the common traits of stupid people is that they believe they know everything. Wise people would shudder to make such a claim.
Take the case of Donald Trump. He is a self-described “most stable genius”. He also insists he knows more about the economy and infrastructure than anybody else in the world. And he insists that he has met more people than there are people in the world!
Pakistan’s thick generals are not far behind. Although not in the same class as the American criminal-in-chief, they exhibit similar traits. In the name of security, they have been involved in attacking their own hapless people. The crimes they have perpetrated are too horrific to recount.
Let us begin with the poor people of Tirah Valley. They are currently suffering the military’s brutal policy. On January 9, it issued orders for the people to vacate their homes and leave the area by January 25.
In the midst of winter, a massive snowstorm hit the area. Scenes of children walking barefoot with few pieces of clothing on their backs were seen shivering in the bitter cold. Many died of hypothermia. The scenes of men, women and children tredging through snow were heart-wrenching.
And why did the army issue these orders? It claimed that terrorists belonging to the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have moved into the area. If people have been forced to leave, would the TTP members stay put?
The terrorist outfits in Pakistan are the creation of its intelligence agency, the ISI. These outfits are activated whenever the thugs in Rawalpindi feel the need to carry out an operation to please their masters in Washington DC.
Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, quoting a Peshawar-based political analyst Riffatullah Orakzai said that there have been 22 major military operations in North Western Pakistan. “In many cases, militants simply vacate an area before a military operation and return to the same area after the army departs,” he said.
Faced with harsh criticism about the barbaric treatment of innocent civilians, the puppets installed in power by the thugs in uniform, tried to walk back and denied a military operation was imminent. Khawaja Asif, defence minister in the puppet regime, had the gall to say that the “people were moving out of the valley because of harsh weather conditions”.
There is no evidence that people have migrated out of the Tirah Valley during past winters. Instead, they huddle in their mud and stone homes to protect themselves from the cold. They stock up on food and other provisions and do not venture out until the weather improves.
The people of Tirah, like most rural folks in Pakistan, have no electricity, gas or running water. There are also no schools or hospitals in the area. They still live in the Stone Age but are subjected to modern barbarism in the form of bombs, drones and missiles.
Pakistan’s information ministry on January 25 issued its own “clarification”. Headed by Atta Tarar, a minister who has the looks of a monkey, claimed that the armed forces were not involved in the “depopulation” of the valley. He tried to shift blame onto the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) led by the Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) whose leader Imran Khan has languished in a stinking jail cell since August 5, 2023.
So, if the army did not order the people of Tirah Valley to leave, what forced them to do so amid the harsh winter weather? Asif and Tarar’s claims make no sense and are based on absolute lies to deflect criticism from the armed forces.
The federal government refuses to release funds to the provincial government to take care of people’s needs. This is deliberate and reflects the meanness of the clowns installed in power through the theft of people’s mandate.
On February 8, 2024, general elections were held in Pakistan. Every conceivable hurdle was placed for the PTI to participate. Its leader Imran Khan was in jail and the party was denied its traditional symbol.
Many candidates’ papers were rejected. Those that were allowed to contest had to do so as independents. This meant each candidate has a separate symbol. It was intended to confuse the largely illiterate electorate.
Despite all these hurdles, the PTI candidates secured more than 180 seats in parliament, an absolute majority. This was unacceptable to the military.
Late February 8 night, announcement of election results on TV chanells was suspended. Army thugs raided polling stations and forcibly drove PTI observers out. They snatched the ballot boxes and the next morning, all the losing candidates belonging the Pakistan Muslim League (N) group and Pakistan People’s Party were declared winners.
This is what the army called ‘democracy’ in Pakistan. It is under de facto martial law but the cowards in uniform have put up civilians in front to create the façade of democracy. All decisions are made by the army, or more precisely the army chief, the self-appointed field marshal Asim Munir. He has even elevated himself to the rank of Chief of Defence Forces.
The army has mangled the constitution. Judges have been neutered and people have no recourse to justice. All decisions are made by one man: the self-described genius and headman, Asim Munir.
He has even agreed to send Pakistani troops to Gaza as part of the Trump-imposed plan for the enclave without even the formality of presenting the proposal to parliament. How long will it be before it is formally announced that Pakistan has recognized the zionist entity.
In the two-year period since the election was stolen, the economy has been run aground. Pakistani officials keep running to the IMF and other donors begging for a billion or two dollars.
Corruption has reached dizzying heights. Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has concluded that corruption in Pakistan is behind the economic crisis driven by “state capture”. Public policy is manipulated to benefit a narrow circle of political and business elites.
The IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA), finalised in November 2025, presents a grim picture of a system marked by dysfunctional institutions that are unable to enforce the rule of law or safeguard public resources.
According to the 186-page report, corruption in Pakistan is “persistent and corrosive”, distorting markets, eroding public trust and undermining fiscal stability. For the elite, led by the military, there is no tomorrow. They plunder whatever they can put their grubby hands on.
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