The below-copied concerned citizen’s anonymous post was forwarded to me by my dear former colleague at Dawn, Mr. Fahad Lughmani. I had no way to confirm the content and its context unless I reached out to Honourable Zahid Motiwala, a family friend in Karachi, who deals in guns but I have no idea if he deals with big guns of his city . I remain eternally grateful to his parents who treated me with affection like their own son while I served at Karachi in the 90s.
It is shocking news if true that Honourable Faisal Vawda turned the lives of his neighbors miserable, forgetting that only luck turned him into an overnight knight in shining armor after defeating Shabaz Sharif in the 2018 elections to later become a PTI-nominated Federal Minister and subsequently a Senator before his termination of membership by PTI. This happened in the wake of his doomsday press conference ahead of the party’s long march from Lahore, something not well-received by the PTI leadership, despite the fact that whatever he professed turned out to be true. This points to the fact that Mr. Vada had the right connections to forewarn the PTI leadership at the right time to back out. Yet, he paid with his political career with PTI, if not losing many of his erstwhile political rivals, and fair weather friends most of whom were seen gracing his beloved daughter’s regal marriage at Karachi Defence that even the British royalty would envy.
I personally admire Faisal Vawda’s courage when he paid a visit to the Chinese Consulate at Karachi late 2018 with his 9 MM pistol, ostensibly on an anti-terrorist mission. This qualifies him in the eyes of many Pakistanis as a daredevil capable to act as the country’s emissary to neighboring Afghanistan crossing over the Durand line in his luxurious security convoy that always follows him whenever he moves around in Karachi , instead of Maulana Fazal Rahim sent recently to Afghanistan , to prevail on the Taliban leadership to deny TTP safe haven on their soil, beside normalising bilateral trade that is at standstill at the moment with thousands of trucks lined up across the Pak- Afghan border on both side of the divide.
I wonder when and whether these politicians and so-called Pakistani elite will ever do things that make common citizens proud and inspired with their leadership role. Or will they continue impressing common Pakistani citizens with their pompous display of wealth to earn themselves artificial recognition in the society at the cost of trampling the law under their feet?. This is similar to the way the Elephants in the ancient Indian army on a rampage would trample its own army, winning the Urdu lexicon a new phrase “Ghando Hathi Apna Fauj Ko Ronda.” (Pardon My French)
Copied & Pasted
Mr Faisal Vawda
15th Street
Off Khy e Mujahid
Phase 5
DHA
Dear Mr. Vawda,
I am a resident of 15th Street off Mujahid and I was aghast that you felt it within your right to block the entrance to the street and takeover a large part of it, inconveniencing hundreds of residents. I do applaud your creativity in making the entrance to a street seem like the entrance to your home with a fake gate for good measure!
We were stuck in a log jam longer than we needed to and, on our own street, having to take a circuitous route to our own home. You have done this repeatedly over the last three weeks since the nupitals of your daughter. While we are wishing her the very best, we are also hopeful that she is your only child so we are not subject to another circus anytime in the future.
May I remind you that this is public property and not your inheritance. The roads in any city are for the use and convenience of its citizens and not for one man to sequester them for his own whims and fancy. Would you even dare to contemplate this in any other country?
You also took it upon yourself to do a kunda on hundreds of electricity poles to attach fairy lights on them in an already pressured grid. What were you compensating for? Do you think this gave you a heightened stature or is it something deeper and more complex in your pole obsession? Sir, may I request that you not be fooled by these temporary illusions of infallibility and grandeur. They will all vanish rapidly once moods change and you maybe left pretty isolated. You will certainly not find very many friendly neighbours in case you are wondering.
In case you are looking for examples of all that is wrong in this country and why Pakistan will never rise from the ashes may I request a long hard look in the mirror? Your crass showmanship has no bounds and no regard for neighbours you are inconveniencing. Shame on you and your ilk who think that they are above the law.
A Resident
