Adil Najam

I want to revisit a question I had first posed more than a year ago: Who Sang the Best Amongst Our Leaders? But I will expand the field to not just those who ruled Pakistan (President / Prime Minister) but also those who aspire to do so. As I had mentioned in that post “the idea of a leader who can appreciate music – and good music – is an endearing one” but also that I hope I am – and also that our readers are – capable of differentiating between what we think of someone’s singing ability and their political philosophy. I certainly do not, and hope you will not, react to the one on the basis of the other.

With that said, here are three samples of political leaders singing (I have tried to pick samples that they may have themselves picked out): Shahbaz Sharif singing ‘Akelay na jaana’; Altaf Hussain singing ‘BaRRey be-murawat hain yeh husn waaley‘; and Pervaiz Musharraf singing ‘Laagi rey tousey laagi, najar tousey laagi‘.

Mast Qalandar

Most of us have read or heard the Birbal stories. In fact, we grew up reading those stories. Birbal, a courtier of Emperor Akbar, one of the nau rattan or the nine jewels of Akbar’s court, was known for his quick wit, wisdom and repartee. His stories were always amusing. In his exchanges with the king or other people, Birbal could always turn a point around, and manage to extricate himself honorably from a difficult and embarrassing situation. For example:

“Birbal was in Persia at the invitation of the Persian king. He was entertained and rich presents were heaped on him. On the eve of his departure for home, a nobleman asked him how he would compare the king of Persia to his own king? ‘Your king is a full moon,’ said Birbal, ‘whereas mine could be likened to the quarter moon.’ The Persians were very happy to hear that. But when Birbal got home he found Emperor Akbar furious with him. ‘How could you belittle your own king’ demanded Akbar. ‘You are a traitor!’ No, Your Majesty,’ replied Birbal. ‘I did not belittle you. The full moon diminishes and disappears whereas the quarter moon grows from strength to strength. What I, in fact, proclaimed to the world was that your power is growing from day to day whereas that of the king of Persia is about to go into decline.’ Akbar grunted in satisfaction and welcomed Birbal back with a warm embrace.”

However, all his wit and wisdom did not help when Birbal descended on Buner, as a commander at the head of an expedition against the local tribes.

Yes, Buner, which today is a district of Malakand Division, in Pakhtunkhwa, and was in the headline news for the Taliban insurgency and the subsequent army operation, in 2008 and 2009.

Many of us, even if we have heard or read about Birbal, probably didn’t know that Birbal was ever in Malakand and Buner or, for that matter, in the present-day Pakhtunkhwa.

Adil Najam

Read this news from The Express Tribune and tell me how this is not idiotic:

KARACHI: A doctor has been arrested on charges of blasphemy in Hyderabad, police said on Sunday. Naushad Valiyani was detained on Friday following a complaint by a medical representative who visited the doctor in the city of Hyderabad. “The arrest was made after the complainant told the police that Valiyani threw his business card, which had his full name, Muhammad Faizan, in a dustbin during a visit to his clinic,” regional police chief Mushtaq Shah told AFP. “Faizan accused Valiyani of committing blasphemy and asked police to register a case against the doctor.”

Shah said the issue had been resolved after Valiyani, a member of the Ismaili community apologised but local religious leaders intervened and pressed for action. “Valiyani had assured Faizan that he did not mean to insult the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) by throwing the visiting card in the dustbin,” Shah said, adding that the police had registered a case under the Blasphemy Act.