Perhaps the new prime minister of AJK will be the man under whom the Kashmir issue will be solved, for he seems of an unusual prescience.
You see, he chose the name Niazi, because when he was a member of Poonch Disrict Council back in the day, his name was the same as Sardar Abdul Qayyum, the leader of the party he was then in. Now why he chose Niazi to distinguish himself I don’t know, but he did.
Did he know that he would one day join a party led by a Niazi? Whatever the reason, he made the choice, and it was under that name that he served in Sardar Qayyum’s son Atique’s Cabinet. Sardar Qayyum was Dhund Abbasi, to be distinguished from the Kalhoro Abbassis of Sindh and Bahawalpur. Dhund Abbasis are an extensive biradari, spreading over part of KP into Potohar sand reaching Bagh district in AJK. Mehtab Abbasi was both Governor and CM in KP, while Shahid Khaqan was PM of Pakistan. Sardar Qayyum was both President and PM of AJK.
This Sardar Qayyum is neither Dhund nor Niazi, but a Dulli Mughal. Speaking at an election rally, Imran, who doesn’t normally stress his tribe, was moved to wonder what a Niazi was doing so far afield. The main place we come from, which might even be referred to as the Niazi homeland, is Mianwali district. Apart from that, they were in East Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, but after that, I’ve come to hear of Niazi’s from Faisalabad, Sahiwal, and Khanewal, and I’m sure they’re settled in other colony districts. You see, Mianwali is an arid and thus relatively infertile land, while that was the whole point of colony districts: they were made fertile by water.
Because there were large tracts of fertile land in colony districts, East Punjabi refugees also got allotted those lands. And that included all those East Punjabi Niazis.
Anyhow, the late Sardar Abdul Qyyum is known as Mujahid-i-Awwal, because he was the one, back in 1947, who raised the standard of revolt against the Dogras. If this one plays a role in freeing Kashmir, will he be known as Mujahid-i-Sani?
Imran also was probably also relieved that Arshaf Nadem did so badly at the Olympics. Imagine the embarrassment of riches that we would have had for future PMs in Shaheen Shah Afridi, a personable fast bowler, and an Olympic gold medallist. What seems to have proved that Nadeem Arshad is a traitor and a corrupt element (which is the same thing) is that he failed to get a medal in an event won by an Indian, India’s only gold medal so far these Olympics.
Of course, there have also been developments in the cricket world, on which Imran is concentrating as hard as on developments in Afghanistan. Australia has lost the T20 series to Bangladesh, having lost to the West Indies over there. So Pakistan should get them over while they think that losing on tour is OK. But then, Ireland and Afghanistan are already inviting them to tour, just to see how far the Aussies can sink.
I wonder if Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has resigned as SACM, as CM’s spokesperson. Because of what happened to a Kabul government spokesman who was assassinated, because of the recent Sialkot by-election, or in support of Oun Chaudhry, who resigned as CM’s coordinator in support of Jahangir Tarin.
She did not resign in support of those who killed PTI MPA Asad Khokhar’s brother Mubashir at Asad’s son’s walima. CM Usman Buzdar was there, after telling Asad he was being taken back in the cabinet. Asad had been sacked last year because he wasn’t doing well.
The killers proved it was an old enmity by leaving Buzdar alone. Still, that made it worse for the CM’s security staff. Buzdar was just a witness, you see, not the target. That is probably not where you want the CM to be.
