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Syed Talat Hussain Back in the college days, a group of jovial rascals, who habitually bunked classes and had nothing to show for their studies, would place themselves at the cafeteria doorstep and invite freshmen to join a free tea party. The cost of that cuppa tea was a complete demolition job of the sanity of the new-comers. They were told that they had made the worst decision of their lives coming to the college. They were then walked through the high-way of high achievements the group members claimed they had under their belts, which were endorsed by the waiter and a few other standing nearby.  They were then let go, bewildered and bemused, with the parting advice of not taking their studies seriously. The more studious the victims looked the bigger the deluge (or should I say tsunami) of gibberish directed at them. Needless to say the waiter and the bystanders were all part of a set-up and were pre-booked cheaply for a meal. The list of the trophies of the practical jokers wa...

Syed Talat Hussain You can fake many things in life but you can’t fake revolutions. But that is precisely what the Pakistani nation was made to fake on the eve of the fateful elections two years ago. Spurred by the devious script of a country under siege, enabled by carefully-designed and flawlessly-executed national upheavals like Imran and Qadri dharnas and protests by sectarian groups, and fully supported by a courtier media drafted as partner-in-pantomime through spineless seth-owners, a revolution was announced. So arrived Imran Khan with fanfare and frills, riding high, talking loud. Journalists, economists, politicians, and significantly large victims of revolutionary anthems went delirious in ecstasy. Attaboy! What a man! Also arrived with him bundles of justifications as to why the haloed one must be hailed. When the economy was growing at 5.7 % the nation was told that Pakistan was sinking and needed a savior. When the debt was $20 billions less than today, the nation was tol...

Syed Talat Hussain With the dismissal from service of Judge Arshad Malik whose court had declared ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif guilty in the famous Al-Azizia corruption case is justice well-served---but only half of it. The judge had thoroughly degraded himself through a series of leaked videos pertaining to his sexual exploits and his casual confessions of being pressurized to give the verdict that knocked out Mr. Sharif. The judge’s actions spoke to the low level of probity he maintained which left the senior members of the Lahore High Court with no option but to let the bad egg be sorted out. To the extent, the judge had disgraced himself and his profession he deserved this fate, but his lowliness is but just one part of the dirt-pool that was created in the name of accountability to drown the main opposition party PML-N’s leadership.  Other cases in other courts including the National Accountability’s own drive against corruption are totally tainted by the same slur of manipu...