Taliban and the world class sportsmen
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 has had to suffer greatly in the recent years owing to the misadventures of the Taliban who seemed to be very restless. Some feel that people generally from that part of the country seem to suffer from hyperglycemia. The greater glucose levels in their bodies results in general restlessness that makes them bounce like tigers from Winnie, the pooh. The United States of America has spent millions of dollars on trying to defeat the Taliban. It is time they realize that they cannot defeat them. Instead of spending so much money on bombing them, they can simply give them a yearly supply of Swiss chocolates and the Taliban would happily sign a peace treaty with the Sweet land of Liberty.
On a more serious note, imagine that you were the jungle book kid picked up from a forest by wolves and raised in that environment. Growing up with them, you would slowly adapt to the culture and tradition of the jungle. You would howl instead of writing a love letter to a beautiful woman you’ve seen. Now imagine yourself being born in the midst of guns. By the time your 16, you will make a mosaic on the wall with bullet holes that reads “I love you” or in Pashtu language “"Zu sta sara meena kaon" - a phrase one Pashtun colleague taught me. F. Scott Fitzgerald, the great American writer of the 1900’s writes in one of his novels “before criticizing someone just keep in mind the fact that not everyone has had the opportunities that you have had.”
Given the limited options available to the Pashtuns, it comes as no surprise if they love guns as much as we love dogs. That does not necessarily make everyone hailing from the tribal areas of Pakistan a terrorist. To further elucidate this point, since many would want to give idiotic rebuttals to this argument that would simply be hate speech at best, let us take a few examples.
The tribal agency has over the years produced one of the finest sportsmen that the world has seen. From Majid Khan, to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-c64193 Khan to Shahid Afridi, to Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan - all of them hail from more or less the same part of the country. Majid and Imran especially have ancestral roots in Waziristan that has been target of U.S. drone attacks and is now home to the Taliban. Taliban however, are immigrants in a land where the Burki family has had a long history. The first of the intellectual warriors from the Burki family - Bazid Khan was also known by his followers as Roshan Khan or “the enlightened one”. He was the first person to write a book in the Pashtu language.
The Burki’s have contributed greatly to the nation of Pakistan, with people like the Sandhurst trained General Wajid Ali Burki. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Majid-Khan-c73932, Imran Khan and others contributed greatly to the world of sport.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, the Pakistani heartthrob who holds the world record for scoring the fastest century in One Day cricket is also a Pashtun who hails from FATA and is loved by cricketing fans all across the world. Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan dominated the world of squash for almost a decade after winning 14 World Opens between them. History has proven that Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa formerly known as NWFP, has a lot of potential in terms of producing quality sportsmen if only they are given the right sporting facilities.
Evolution has taken many forms, but the most intriguing thing till now will have to be the Pashtuns who have all the potential to excel at whatever they do and make the most out of their circumstances. The best example comes in the form of the Afghan cricket team which has grown up in Pakistani refugee camps. To shun all these people as terrorists would be unfair to all the sportsmen that the region has produced over the years.
(The writer uses deliberate factual errors to produce humour)
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