What the future holds

Posted on July 4, 2006
Filed Under Politics, Society
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The very prolific Khaled Ahmed of the Daily Times and the Friday Times is not only an astute commentator on all things Pakistani, a columnist par excellence, and an intellectual voice that must always be taken seriously. Even when he is writing about things not too serious.

His weekly column Second Opinion: A Review of the Urdu Press is something that I try never to miss. Here is a gem from this weeks column.

Khalid Sahib reports that according to Khabrain (April 23, 2006) “Lahore’s famous palmist Majeed Salimi predicted that America will invade Iran in 2006 and that President Musharraf would remain safe. He said that the government will make a deal with the PPP and that there was ‘foreign hand’ involved in the Nishtar Park blast in Karachi. And that Nawaz Sharif will not return to Pakistan.”

Here is Khalid Sahib’s commentary on this. Astute, as always:

The palmist is simply clever. He reads the Urdu press and is savvy about national and international events. The good thing is no one will catch him if the predictions don’t come true. He was not so clever about the Nishtar Park massacre. He should have stayed clear of the short-term events. Now someone should collar him and tell him that his deception suffered from a flaw. Give yourself at least a year, enough time for the public memory to fade.

My own guess is that the Najoomi is also saying what he things (a) people already believe and (b) people want to hear. If so, is this what they are already resigned to?

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