In the kingdom of the blind

It seems that the attack on Iran is thought by 40 percent of the American people to be because President Donald Trump wanted to distract attention from the Epstein affair, according to two surveys. The Iranian leadership is understandably furious at this, because it means that a dead Zionist has provoked a lot of trouble for them, and all the while they had thought live ones were the problem.

It is true that there were more and more questions in the media about Trump’s relations with Epstein in the days before the attack on Iran. It’s also true that those questions have now receded after the war has begun. But singer Ali Zafar, who won a defamation case against

Singer Meesha Shafi recently, is said to be working for peace.

His hero and role model, Harvey Weinstein, another man much calumniated, much maligned, according to Ali Zafar, wants the war to end, so that those questions about Epstein can be answered. I mean, why blame Ali Zafar or Weinstein for something that Epstein was doing, with friends like Prince Andrew and Trump. Considering Israel’s enthusiasm, I would say that Benjamin Netanyahu also wanted a distraction. But then he’s involved in a host of scandals already, so one more shouldn’t have been a problem.

It does put Pakistan in a slightly odd position. I mean it’s one thing to help stop a regional conflagration, but another to help cover up for the US President’s peccadilloes. I wonder if that’s an odder position than Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi’s grandson Faisal found himself. He was detained by the Israeli authorities along with a lot of other people, while trying to bring relief to Gaza. It was a harsh debut for someone who was taking public service into the third generation.

There have been problems galore for Trump, like the shooting in a San Diego mosque, where two congregants and a security guard were first killed, before the killers, two young men, went off and offed themselves. They sounded like they were Trump supporters. And he can’t lose any more supporters, not with voters inexplicably having an objection to high gas prices.

Closer home, there has been a strange happening: Imran Khan’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, had to excuse himself from appearing before the Islamabad High Court, because he had an eye problem. Imran has got an eye problem himself, with his supporters claiming hw has lost sight in one eye.

A lawyer getting an eye problem? Was that a hint to the judges that the law is supposed to ber blind? Not always, though. When then Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr Justice Umar Ata Bandial saw Imran come to his court for bail, he said, “Good to see you.” If anyone is seen, is justice blind any longer? Or are we to have the experience of the one-eyed man being king in the country of the blind.

The situation is not irretrievable, for at least there’s no one on the horizon who can get on the same page. Certainly not Shan Masood, Imran’s successor as captain, who now has undergone his second whitewash at the hands of Bangladesh. He made 70 in the second-innings chase that fell so woefully short, which he will probably use to retain the Test captaincy.. His reaction: “We need to reflect.” That is a polite way of saying it wasn’t his fault.

If there was really reflection, he would be replaced by Azam Khan, who is the fattest man ever to have kept wickets for a first-class team, and who has played T20 cricket all around the world. But we had regular keeper Rizwan dropped from the one-day team, but no Azam Khan to re[lace him. Even though with him around you don’t need a roller. You roll the pitch every time he runs a single.

Afghanistan is playing India next month, even though with Shan Masood still at the helm, they should really be playing Pakistan. Or maybe they’re thinking what Shan is thinking: he is captain for life, so there’s no hurry.

Modi should be glad there’s some good news for the |Indian team, even though they’ll have to play a home Test in June. He himself is said to be prostrate, after the resignation of the US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who was a Hindu. No, not an Indian -American (that Cice-President J.D. Vance’s wife), but the child of converts. Her father was half-Samoan, so maybe Gabbards are somewhere on the caste spectrum. Usually, converts start at the bottom, as Dalits. You get reincarnated in a higher caste, you see.