Folks, sharing some thoughts on the recent trip of a not so distant cousin of Shri Brahmos Ji to the Land of the Pure.

So once upon a time, there lived near a small, nondescript town, a young lad who aspired to run .. run as fast as he could .. run beyond the speed of sound .. and run straight into the lands of the impure ones not very far away in order to fulfill his destiny.

A thorough team player, he would never complete a sentence without referring to his Bros. So let’s call him Mah’Bros for the sake of this story, so as to not let out his true identity!

So Shri Mah’Bros Ji trained hard during his growing up years, and by the time he became a teen, he could actually run really fast. But the way his brains were programmed, meant that his elders kept him on a tight leash, lest he go and run amok!

But they did take good care to keep him well exercised so that whenever needed, he could actually run into the lands of the impure and do whatever was expected of him.

All was fine and dandy, till one day when he suddenly found his tethers loosened!

He couldn’t believe his luck and decided to make a go for it!!

And before anyone could yell ‘Oye Pakad Usko’, our guy Mah’Bros had already gotten a headstart!!

Oh he ran .. and how! Soon he was at nearly 40,000 feet above sea level where atmospheric resistance was minimal and the inevitable happened – a BOOM!

So .. the story was published!

And the Brown Panted Ones carried on clearing and cleaning the area, much like they had done to a supposedly non-existent terror camp for 42 days after 26 Feb 2019!

Meanwhile, peoples of the lands of the impure kept harping upon TWO blasts!

Thankfully, the second blast was attributed to some high quality pindi chana consumed by this Minister Ji in Islamabad, who actually got De-Panted in the process, much like the Brown Panted Ones!

For the next 48 hours, the Brown Panted Ones kept a studied silence, especially since the loss of hundreds of their ‘Otherwise Panted’ comrades of Balakot and the two unfortunate pilots a day later was still fresh in their minds!

They tried their BESTEST to clean up the supposed cold-storage facility even as their higher ups STILL ran around in circles, seeking an explanation. Finally, a call was taken and they decided to do an ‘URGENT‘ press conference, about 48hrs after Sh Mah’Bros had embraced Virgati!

Out came the latest Propagandu-in-Chief!

This one was a bit better rehearsed than his predecessor who had ‘inadvertently’ let out the loss of an     F-16 in his exuberance to be the ‘FIRSTEST‘ to break news of Shri Abhinandan Ji’s exploits!

To sum up, the Brown Panted Ones expressed their outrage in a very polite and ‘sehmi sehmi’ language since everyone and also wikipedia knows the actual capability of the 100s of Bros of Sh Mah’Bros Ji which had spooked them into releasing Shri Abhinandan not so long ago!

In fact, rumour mills also have it that this time he was wearing knee braces as well, just in case someone saw his own knees shaking, as was the case with the Brown Pants-in-Chief in Feb 2019 at the mention of Sh Mah’Bros Ji and his brothers by the Indians!

Anyhow, the Propagandu-in-Chief managed to give out a brilliant graphic for which his agency is the most renowned for. In this, he described the last and the longest run of Sh Mah’Bros Ji who had come nearly 124 km inside the lands of the impure, that too WITHOUT any visa!

‘YES!! We had tracked him!!!’, the Propagandu-in-Chief crowed .. apparently in the memory of the crows that his predecessor had killed on the day of the Balakot strike!

‘YES, India will explain’, he thundered with clenched fists and an involuntarily clenched butt!!

Soon, the clean-up squads of the Brown Panted Ones vacated the ‘वीरगति स्थल’ of Sh Mah’Bros Ji and their malnourished populace rushed in to make TikTok videos of the terror unleashed upon them by him in his last moments!

Of course, with a better knowledge of what transpired, the Air Chief was able to explain what Shri Mah’Bros Ji did to the Lands of the Impure with the help of some simple hand gestures which the Beggar-in-Chief, with his limited technical knowhow, could easily comprehend!

Soon came the response by India. ‘It was a mistake’, they said. But they said it right under the phrase ‘हर काम देश के नाम’, much to the satisfaction of the soul of Shri Mah’Bros Ji!

CHEATING CHEATING.. cried the Brown Panted Ones.

The Beggar in Chief also had this to say!

Meanwhile, social media in the lands of the impure was going ballistic!
HOW DARE THEY, HAINJI?, some said, while the others crowed about now reverse engineering the body of Shri Mah’Bros!

But the reverse engineering jokers didn’t know one thing – Shri Mah’Bros Ji had ensured utter and complete destruction of any useful body part of his! At best, the Brown Panted ones could sell the leftovers for some scrap metal and feel happy at the jump in their GDP!

Then there were those who were crying for retaliation!
NUKE THEM, some said.
SEND OUR OWN MISSILES, others said.
KEEL THEM ALL, more shouted.

Meanwhile, the Propagandu-in-Chief was furiously working on releasing the next song about the Mah’Bros issue in order to improve his TRPs!

You see, he was well and truly aware of his ‘Soft Power’ and the lack of any ‘Hard Power’ to go with it, which had come back to bite his predecessors bumpy after India had abrogated Article 370!

Here’s the story of that day!

Do read it!

I INSIST!

PLEEEEEZ!

On the events in Pakistan in the Aftermath of Revocation of Article 370

(Note: This chain of thoughts was tweeted by me on 01 March 2022. Putting it here in my blog for the sake of archiving it on another medium as well)

Folks, sharing some thoughts on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. Thoughts have been floating about in my head ever since this thing flared up yet again, some weeks ago and now with the military part of it a week old, I feel emboldened enough to share my thoughts.

But one thing I wish to make absolutely clear right at the onset, I am NOT going to be talking much about the military operations as such. There already are enough handles doing a great job on that, for both sides!

Thoughts are still disjointed, though. Let’s see how it goes ..

If you seek inputs on the military part of the campaign, this is one of the threads to follow, as well as a worthy handle to follow on Twitter.

Russia – Ukraine #RussiaUkraineConflict
– This tweet from five hours ago, which shows Russian air assault in progress on an airport hardly 15km from Ukraine capital Kiev, was an indicator of how it was going, and how soon it will be over.https://t.co/n5VL4wyYuJ

— VatsRohit (@KesariDhwaj) February 24, 2022

That said, let’s get going with this monologue of mine!

I had written this tweet below in March 2014, at about the time Shri Viktor Yanukovych was either in the process of being ousted from office, or had already been ousted, unsurprisingly, in yet another ‘revolution’!

Well, out came his book all over again, last week! It is a worthy reading for those interested. It’s been more than two decades since I myself first read it, followed by a couple more re-readings.

So .. going ahead, let’s see what has brought us to where we are on this first day of March of 2022.

Well, in one word, or rather in one acronym, the reply is NATO!

Let me tell you why ..

Post the breakup of the Soviet Union, NATO was NOT supposed to expand any further, having lost the primary reason for its existence in the first place!

In fact, Russia was explicitly promised about this.

BUT .. We wouldn’t be here if that had indeed been the case, no?!

Despite the literal collapse of Warsaw Pact, NATO galloped eastwards, unshackled, or as I originally wanted to say, UNHINGED!

But why did they do it in the first place? Well, it wasn’t the Soviets that were the enemy, it was Russia that was the ‘Other’, CIVILIZATIONALLY speaking.

Feel free to disagree, but European history bears witness to the fact that a strong Russia has always been a threat.
Talking about continental Europe, I’ll just leave this 8yr old tweet here for the time being. I’ll come to this 👇 later in the blog maybe

Most of the former Soviet republics have balanced the opposing pulls from Continental Europe and Russia well enough, including those that have already joined or rejected joining NATO, except Georgia and Ukraine, that invited overt military response from Russia.

Georgia is way past in history (relatively speaking, of course!), so I will talk about Ukraine. Remember the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis? Or atleast heard of it? For the sake of repetition, it was precipitated by the USSR placing ballistic missiles in Cuba about 60 years ago.

In response to Soviet missiles in a country about 200km away, the US reaction took the world very nearly to a nuclear Armageddon.

And here we had Ukraine, dreaming of joining NATO, sitting right on the borders of Russia.

A HUGE miscalculation, in my opinion.

But then, why did this miscalculation happen in the first place?

Well, I would say that both sides are to blame for this – NATO for leading on Ukraine, and Ukrainian leadership itself, for not seeing the clear red line that Russia had laid out.

As they say, we are all Prisoners of Geography.

This is something that just cannot be wished away. Either make peace with it, or continue fighting it but without success. I guess any astute political leader would have seen this from afar.

But then, Ukraine elected a comedian!

Well, nothing against Shri Volodymyr Zelenskyy Ji personally, but I don’t think he appreciated that NATO would merely pay lip service and lead Ukraine into actually believing the crap about getting inducted into NATO so that they can fight Ukraine’s wars with Russia!

Zelenskyy is just another manifestation of Leftist Liberal ‘experiment’ with political power through revolutions of various kinds, but one which has bounced back at them so badly. Ukrainian lives don’t matter to them, just like Syrian/Libyan ones. Period.

It was clear as day to anyone who cared to see that Ukraine was being prepped up as yet another ‘frontline state’ against the Russians. But then, an inexperienced ‘leader’ may not have been a wise choice to ‘lead’ the country under such circumstances, no?

Instead, what he has ended up doing is to ‘lead’ his country straight into this mess because of a black and white worldview, that is generally the forte of the ‘liberal’ cabal, instead of the navigation through a LOT of grey that seasoned political leaders are required to do.

Sad as it is, IMO the responsibility for all the loss of lives of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers as well as the civilians in Ukraine, lies solely on the shoulders of the inept leadership that failed to read the tea leaves and kept on dreaming about NATO coming to their rescue.

Yup, this continued even as the Russian forces were already INSIDE Ukraine!

Like I’ve said before in this blog, NATO will happily fight Russia till the last Ukrainian. Even thereafter, Ukraine will NOT be a part of NATO.

So let’s get on to the current conflict as such ..

It has been a personal belief / opinion that I’ve held since long, so I’ll not mind you not agreeing with what I write next.

The world as we knew it, had changed long ago, what with the Arab Spring and states arming militias to go after governments in countries that fell out of favour with the Western establishment that was overrun by the ‘Liberal’ cabal.

Yup.

Do read the above statement once again.

But this was the first instance that one Nation was forced to militarily attack another. I do believe that this may not have been the Western gameplan originally, but then I still have my doubts. So I’ll not go there.

For me, the first inkling of the imminent commencement of military operations by Russia was the day US/Europe announced the first set of sanctions against Russia, after weeks and weeks of threats.

In fact, the first thought that crossed my mind once I learnt of the sanctions was that now there is no more leverage to threaten Russia with!

Threats of sanctions can still expect a pliable behaviour from the other party, but with sanctions actually imposed, that threat is gone!

Of course, with a comedian presiding over the rapidly sinking Ukraine, any chances of backpeddling / deal-making that some other, seasoned politician might have done, were simply non existent. Small wonder then, that the Russian troops soon entered Ukraine!

The moment that happened, I swear if you tried hard enough, you could have actually HEARD all those High Fives in the corridors of power in various ‘major’ world capitals! Here was Russia, fighting Ukraine!

(Implication – Ukraine, and NOT a NATO member European country!).

The sense of glee must have been infectious enough!
But one thing was amply clear – No country would be overtly sending their troops in harm’s way.
No way!
Not even in the ‘light banter’ in which the British Defence Secretary dreamed on about the 1853 victory!!

Of course, all this happened behind closed doors and threats of ‘We Can Send The Gurkhas‘ were not to be shared outside, but for their own idiots inside their own conference rooms!

But act they had to, especially for optics if nothing else.

Hence came all those renewed sanctions and promises and what not. All, except overt military help that Shri Zelenskyy was so hopeful of.

Btw, even the sanctions were carefully calibrated so as not to harm the West’s own interests!

But STILL .. no troops!

Yet, experiences of Libya and Syria came in handy when they started to wildly cheer on the ‘militias’ and the ‘volunteers’ that promised to fight Russia!

Also came in the narrative building on social media and very very compliant mainstream media in the ‘free’ world! Visuals of Shri Zelenskyy Ji freely walking on the streets of Kyiv, of countless Russian tanks etc destroyed along the roadsides (Hint: They were Ukrainian tanks!) soon filled up the social media landscape as well as were faithfully reported by the various large media houses.

Of course, Russian voices were conveniently cut-off from these very social media platforms that swear by their neutrality and commitment to free speech!

No wonder, Ukraine is already winning the war handsomely, atleast on social media, and kicking Russia’s backsides!

It’s been six days and Russia STILL hasn’t taken Kyiv, shout the TV Channels, announcing the defeat of Russia. If only they knew a bit of history, they would realize that the famous BLITZKRIEG of Hitler still took SIX WEEKS to overrun France!

But then, agendas rule!!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Soft Power is meaningless without hard power. We ourselves learnt it at a great cost in 1962.

Once again, I have nothing against the thousands of dead Ukrainians and Russians thousands of miles away from my home, but then, whey our own people and news anchors start swallowing the ‘Liberal’ pills being peddled by the cabal in West, one cannot but do a facepalm.

Ok, before moving ahead, I will plug in this totally unrelated meme here! 😂

So back to the more serious business of blog writing and all that!

As I mentioned before, Ukraine seems to be winning this war quite handsomely, atleast on social media. But then (and I may be totally wrong), when Russians enter Kyiv, the heartbreak will be even more intense.

Let me now talk a bit about Indian response, both at the govt as well as non-govt levels.

Personally, my own take is – ‘Not my dog, Not my fight’. I think the GOI too did its bit by abstaining in the UNSC vote.

However, our own social media fed ‘liberals’ were aghast!

How could India go against the ‘Popular’ opinion, hainji?, they asked!

In their hatred for the current govt of India and love of their ‘liberal’ heroes, I guess we all know what wins. Each and every time. (Hint: Logic is definitely NOT the answer!)

Before moving ahead, I will just plug in this well compiled thread here. Let’s hope the ‘good’ folks of Twitter don’t do their magic and make it vanish on whatever pretext!

Why has Ukraine been so successful at information warfare/propaganda vs the supposed Russian masters of it?

A thread 🧵 of 10 persuasion messaging themes working for them:

— Peter W. Singer (@peterwsinger) February 28, 2022

Ok, back to the Indian ‘liberals’ and media now.

Their hearts bled for Ukraine, and in fact they still bleed. They themselves don’t know why, but they still bleed because .. well .. the masters’ hearts bleed as well!

Unsurprisingly, reporting of the situation by Indian media too has been very one sided with absolutely NO perspective whatsoever that I have personally come across, from the Russian point of view.

Yes, we are THAT shallow in what news we peddle and what news we consume.

Indian students getting stuck in Ukraine was a good ‘sad’ story to sell. But the same Indian students now held practically hostages is something that is just not worth telling the audiences, because they might question all the careful narrative building that media has been up to!

Come what may, Ukraine just HAS to be painted as innocent victims of Russian aggression without telling people why Russia invaded in the first place. Also, ‘non-white’ people being prevented from leaving Ukraine by gunmen who should instead be fighting Russia, is given a miss!

^^ Just in case you don’t believe a ‘random tweeter’ above, here’s a video as well

One can go on and on about the military conflict as such, but that is not my aim.

Before moving ahead, all I will say is that the conflict doesn’t affect us, YET.

Atleast not directly.

Let me delve on that a bit before moving ahead.

We are going to be all alone in the battles we fight. A perfect example is the immense ‘outpouring’ of wanton racism from the West just because we ‘dared’ to abstain from the UNSC vote. The way they came about to ‘scold’ India was .. well .. amusing, to say the least.

Why amusing? Well, because they forgot that India wasn’t the only country that abstained.

China did too!

But will they dare even WHISPER sweet nothings to China?

I think we all know the answer!

Here’s one such sanctimonious idiot that I chose to engage with –

The world as we know it, folks, has changed for good. This is just the beginning. Much much more is to follow, fairly soon. All we can do now is to brace ourselves. We all are already witnesses to history in making. Mark this.

Possibly this is the reason why the West is so furious in their reactions, even if non-military for the time being. Of course, another reason being that continental Europe is already effectively disarmed, thanks to NATO!

Had tweeted this thought some days ago, but I worded it wrong. I should have instead said that the Complete and Utter DESTRUCTION of countries and Nations has been the ‘monopoly’ of the Global West, atleast for the past half century. And I stand by it.

What Russia has done now is to have broken this ‘record’ of the West.

Georgia wasn’t destroyed, neither was Ukraine in the Donbas conflict. But this time it is different. V.E.R.Y different indeed. Hence the reactions from US / Europe that we see.

Try as they might, they can’t wish away the Bear. Not even with no overt military support. No way.

On that note, I got reminded of this one as well!

Seems quite apt under the current circumstances!

Fight or perish. Period.

I personally believe that this conflict (not specifically the Ukraine situation) was already in the making over the past decade and half or so since ‘liberalism’ became the flavour of the day. But I also believe it was mostly being shaped in the cognitive domain without any overt involvement of National militaries in the physical domain. It was a war of narratives thus far which has now, for a change, turned kinetic with both sides being sovereign Nations. Yet, some ppl continue to feel happy in the cognitive domain!

THIS, folks, is what social media and the war of narratives has done to us.

A successfully trended hashtag gives a sense of victory, even as Russian tanks are knocking on the doors of Kyiv!

Physical domain is where u will finally be told to put your money where your mouth is.

And it is here that the West is facing a decision dilemma.

You see, they hardly have any military power left in continental Europe!

Hence, the economic warfare being waged against Russia, of course with adequate checks and balances lest it come back to bite them.

But in their haste to satisfy the hysteria that they’ve built up in their own minds as well as their citizens’, they seem to be headed in a rapid downward spiral with ever increasing stringency of sanctions.

Never before has the monetary system been weaponized in this fashion!

Mind you, this is where it will impact us all as well.
If not today, then tomorrow for sure.
As I wrote above, the world as we know it, has changed for good.

Once the guns stop firing, there will be a mad scramble to find alternatives so that other potential adversaries don’t find themselves held hostage to a monetary system controlled by the US / UK.

The reason why the West has chosen to react so ‘violently’ (without boots on ground of course) is because they see the writing on the wall. If Russia is not defeated, yes DEFEATED, the world order that they have lorded over since the end of WW2 is likely to slip from their grip.

Dare I say, the West have got it wrong this time.

The balance of power has already shifted. What is happening now & what will happen next is merely the assertion of their power by the new leaders.

Of course, this transition too will NOT be pretty, or peaceful.

The current tools that the West is using is their control over the monetary system and info system, thanks to their social media giants. But what of their appetite for actual warfare against a well armed adversary in case it comes to that?

Here’s a quick question – Name ONE war that the USA has decisively won ever since the end of the second world war and left with its aims achieved.

Try.

Saying Panama or the other similar operation would be an insult to the military might of the USA, I’d say.

So try harder.

Btw, just came across this very interesting map. What is of interest is not what is written, but the relative divisions of the world. These more or less match the civilizational boundaries mentioned by Huntington, of course with some civilizations subsumed into these divisions.

So back to Western appetite for war.
With all the woke shit going on to which even their militaries are not immune, one can understand their reluctance to actually put boots on ground, despite Shri Comedian Ji of Ukraine crying desperately for that.
In fact, this just happened 👇

So what comes next ..

Well, for one, I’ll wait for Kyiv to fall, or for Ukraine to beg Russia for peace. When this happens, there will be a LOT of heartbreak all around primarily because of the propaganda fed to us all, thanks to the insane control over narrative by the West.

What has already happened, of course, is that Putin has called the bluff of the West once and for all. Western leaders (currently atleast) appear to be headless chickens even as Ukraine gets systematically dismantled by Russia, even as the Comedian’s calls get increasingly desperate.

He was created by social media.

He is ‘leading’ on social media.

He is PLEADING on social media.

Heck, he is even WINNING on social media!

But the Russian tank crews and other soldiers outside Kyiv haven’t got the memo!

West continues to hang on to fig leaves, even as the desperate pleas by Zelenskyy get louder and louder. So long as some Russian soldiers die, it doesn’t matter to them that thousands of Ukrainians – soldiers as well as civilians – die as well. Period.

However, what they do not (or perhaps they do) realize is that Russia has moved decisively not merely into Ukraine, but into Europe as well, by staking a claim as a major power.

I doubt that short of nukes, continental European Nations can individually, or even collectively, stand up to Russia, militarily. Reminded me of the full form of NATO I heard some years back – Needs America To Operate!

Sad, but true!

Come winters, they will need Russian gas as well and with it will go much of the sanctions. Of course, US elections of November will only get that much more ‘interesting’, to say the least.

So that is about Europe and NATO. Now a word about America.

Europe / NATO are but proxies for America, atleast in the current conflict and the western response to it in terms of sanctions.
That is a fact.
But .. there is one major actor that isn’t yet involved in this mess, yet.

Europe / NATO are but proxies for America, atleast in the current conflict and the western response to it in terms of sanctions.
That is a fact.
But .. there is one major actor that isn’t yet involved in this mess, yet.

Yes, China!

Of course, they must be furiously taking notes. Just as they did after the First Gulf War and launched their military modernisation programme!

That modernisation, btw, is nearing completion.

Now put into context this warning by the Taiwanese President BEFORE the Russian Attack!

Well, China has potentially the MOST to gain from this war.

A weakened and isolated Russia goes that much faster into a Chinese embrace, economically as well. Remember, Putin waited for the Beijing Olympics to be over, before launching the attack! Yup, a Conspiracy Theory indeed!

Of course, Russian being the first ‘recipient’ of economic sanctions helps China prepare that much better for when the inevitable comes their way as well. But the question remains – Which way will China turn? Towards Taiwan, or towards Himalayas? Will they even do such a thing?

The last question in the tweet above is relatively easier to answer.

It is INEVITABLE, I’d say.

If not now then maybe a short distance in the future. But happen, it will. Especially, with Jinping Ji looking at going beyond a 10 year term soon, that too amidst a rapidly challenging internal situation, a diversion of this kind might actually come in handy. Of course, his role model – Mao – did exactly the same thing! As millions died during the ‘Great Leap Forward’, he attacked India!

Btw, that happened when West was busy with Cuban Missile Crisis! Just like currently and for the forseeable future as well, no?

Personally, with all my biases and opinions, I’d say that a war in the Himalayas, while not entirely implausible, may not be as likely as one over Taiwan. But then that is just my personal opinion. Feel free to disagree.

Of course, Taiwan too must be seeing the emerging situation keenly. If at all, one lesson that they too must have drawn by now is that they are going to fight all alone.

The USA has already lost in this respect, though not yet overtly.

A Chinese attack on Taiwan will require an American response for sure because otherwise America of 2022 becoming like the UK of post WW2 – a power in perpetual decline – will be there for all to see.

Thus, China gains doubly by going towards Taiwan – Reunification as well as Pre-eminence. Mind you, they may not even need to go kinetic (atleast to the extent Russia has gone). Even mere posturing, if met by a tepid American response might actually convince the Taiwanese to agree to an altered political status as part of the PRC, thanks also to the horrific visuals of the carnage that Ukraine is suffering, just because their Comedian-in-Charge chose to take in the snake oil peddled by the US / Europe at face value.

A Chinese attempt at Himalayan borders may not be as easily successful, without paying a larger cost, even if it succeeds at all. Hence my bet on Taiwan front getting activated.

But that does NOT mean that we need to lower our guard. One can never be too sure, or too prepared.

But regardless, the world will be a much more violent place over the coming decade or so. Remember, it took TWO world wars and a failed League of Nations to arrive at the current world order. The next world order won’t come any easier.

Talking about UN, I’ll just leave this here!

All I’ll say as I end this thread, folks, is ‘BRACE YOURSELVES’!

It is blood which moves the wheels of history..
Given the current situation, I bet the wheels are moving faster and faster each passing day.

Thanks for your patience. I think I will end this blog post here 🙏

:fin:

So this article landed up on my Timeline some days back:

‘You may be strip searched’: Pakistani cricketer shares boarding pass for USA flight with ‘SSSS’ stamped on it.’

This got me thinking about sharing my views on the woes of an international traveller from the Land of the Pure. Hence this blog post!

Here goes ..

Leave alone USA, even the good folks of Tbilisi know what to do when they see a Packie passport, even if carried by a ‘celebrity’!

Here’s a ‘Travelogue’ of a Green Passport holder to Brazil – Mexico – Panama City – Brazil. Khoob ‘khaatirdaari’ hui! Interestingly, she reports that Mexico had a RED ALERT ON PAKISTANI PASSPORTS!

Do read the ‘Travelogue’ below before proceeding ahead!

Of course, there are people who vehemently cry that this supposedly photoshopped image below is denting the ‘image’ of those that hold the Green Passport!

And why this ‘paranoia’ against ‘innocent’ Packie ‘travellers’, you asked?

Well, here’s an example – the son of a V.E.R.Y senior Pakistan Air Force officer wanted to blow up the Times Square in New York not too long ago! Of course, he was unrepentant for plotting to murder!

Yup. Even the Hollywoodias know!

They too don’t trust those fcukers!

I’m not saying this, I’m merely quoting from this clip from ‘Homeland’ below.

Do watch. I insist!

Totally worth the 33 seconds of your life that it asks for!

Leave alone Americans, even fellow ‘birather mulk’ Malaysia doesn’t deem Pakistani airspace safe enough to fly over it! Here’s a report from a Packie newspaper itself!

Now why is this so, one might ask.

Well .. Pakistan is a country where Parliamentarians PROUDLY flaunt successful terror attacks that have been carried out by their own country in other Nations.

This one talks about the Pulwama ki KAMYAABI of Feb 2019.

Do watch this video below.

Also note the applause from fellow parliamentarians as he dedicates the success of that dastardly terror attack to his fellow citizens of Pakistan.

Then there are these ‘chhoti-moti celebrities’ who think nothing of doing what this one does. For context, this is Pakistani Singer Rabi Pirzada in a traditional dress remembering PM Modi!

Not just Parliamentarians and ‘Chhoti-Moti Celebrities’, but even the hoi polloi are just as ecstatic at their own youngsters picking up the gun and killing innocent people. Then they cry at being treated like potential terrorists when they themselves travel abroad, legitimately!

Above screenshot from this Reuters report after the hanging of Kasab.

Khud ke desh mein Khotey bhi suspect hote hain. But then, they are aghast at being ‘thoroughly’ searched themselves!

Even Kenya knows that it is in their NATIONAL INTEREST to keep them from having a free run of their country as well! Heck, with Packies running amok in their own country and being .. well .. Packies, they have moved on to suspend the facility of visa-free travel that they had earlier granted to these holders of the Green Passport! 

Kenya suspends visa-free transit with Pakistan

Here’s another PROUD citizen of Terroristan, this one calling for a 26/11 type attack in Dubai by his govt agencies because New Zealand cancelled their tour of Pakistan.

And then his countrymen cry buckets when put through extra screening when visiting other countries!

The above sample describes himself as ‘Anti-War’ in his twitter bio, btw!

Apparently, he is only Anti-War, while he continues to be Pro-Terrorism!

Heck, even the Afghans know what Terroristan truly stands for!

This is a V.E.R.Y interesting piece. Do read!

Historical Baggage at Kabul Airport: A Pakistani wonders why he’s made to feel unwelcome in Afghanistan Dated, but worth a read

The list of your average, everyday Pakistani and their fascination with terrorism is a never-ending one. This one so casually talks about the 9/11 terror attacks!

And the same idiots complain when people are cautious, or even reluctant to let them enter their countries!

Here is a Pakistani Army General serving ‘fantastic’ tea to Shri Nek Mohammad at Wana in April 2004.
The same Nek Mohammad that was killed by an American drone just about two months later, on 18 June 2004!
Yup, grant them ‘hinder-free’ access to your countries, Dear World!

Of course, they will keep killing American troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere too. But Americans should NOT hold that against them when they come visiting New York, even if one of them tries to blow up the Times Square! Don’t miss the loud applause in this video!

Here’s the same Hamid Gul, who used to be the top man of the ISI of Terroristan, sharing the stage with ‘world famous’ terror leaders, including Hafiz Saeed of the Lashkar ‘e Taiba that executed the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks

And NATURALLY, he complains when he himself is denied visa to visit foreign lands, including those whose soldiers may have died directly as a result of his actions!

Pakistan’s spymaster Hamid Gul: angel of jihad or windbag provocateur?

Or maybe they are just worried for the ‘izzat’ of their chickens, and don’t want any more such specimens to immigrate and breed within their borders?!

Terroristan .. Since their very birth!
Here’s ZA Bhutto, the most powerful civilian politician in 1971, greeting the hijackers of Air India ‘Ganga’ in Lahore in 1971.
Open and Brazen support of terror comes naturally to Terroristanis of all hues!

Remember the screenshot of the Packie so casually talking about 9/11, above in this blog post?

Well, here’s his own Prime Minister, reverentially remembering ‘Shaheed’ Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani parliament not too long ago. Take that, world!

And this one is a doctor! He would have taken a solemn oath to protect and save lives. But thanks to his upbringing, he chooses to do otherwise.

And mind you, he is merely one of potentially thousands such countrymen of his that has been caught.

9/11 wasn’t the first attempt at bringing down the Twin Towers. Just about half a decade earlier was the first major attack whereby an explosives laden vehicle was detonated in the underground parking lot, with the aim to bring them down.

The mastermind?

A Packie of course!

Of course when Shri Ramzi Yousef above failed to bring down the twin towers, his uncle and fellow Packie, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ended up masterminding the 9/11 attacks!

Yup, give them free access to your lands, you infidels!

Folks, sharing some thoughts on the Afghanistan situation as it unfolds. Been trying to gather my thoughts for the past few days, but events have been happening just too fast for that. So, I’ll just do this on the go.

Here goes ..

Firstly, the issue is not whether or not Kabul will fall. The real issue, IMO, is what happens AFTER Kabul falls, since it is more or less a given. This is what I hope to delve upon in this blog.

Firstly, let me plug a blog post from Feb 2020 when there was talk about Indian troops going to Afg. With the rapid rout of US military in Afg, I think that folks who were thinking about sending Indian troops there would have by now changed their opinions. Here’s that blog post – Indian Troops in Afghanistan

Yup, in case you noticed, I used the word ROUT for what has happened to the US military in Afghanistan. To that end, I’ll just let these two pics – one from Saigon in 1975 and one from Kabul earlier today, make my point.

Call it whatever, but I’ll say they’ve been ROUTED.

Period.

Sneaking out of their biggest military base in the middle of the night without bothering to tell the hosts didn’t exactly look like a victory march out of Afghanistan now, did it? Well .. but they ARE the strongest military in the world, atleast in their own opinion, no?

Of course, in terms of hardware, software & manpower, they do make a compelling case for being the strongest that there might be.

But in terms of how their administration put these assets to use, one surely shakes his head, wondering about the logic they might have used to justify it!

While on the topic of logic of force application, I’ll just leave this 9.5 year old tweet of mine out here.

Quran protests in Afg. Yanks will never get the honorable exit that they r looking for.Guess now they realize they attckd the wrong country!

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) February 26, 2012

Mind you, this was amongst the first 50 or 100 tweets of mine when I joined Twitter!

Of course, I’ve said this many times since Feb 26, 2012 as well. It also figured in this thread quoted below that basically talked about the heads so far up the ‘Foggy Bottom’ in Washington DC that they thought that Soviets were still around!

17/n
But for a minor fact – they invaded the WRONG country!
Taliban, and by extension, al Qaeda, was mince meat if not for the protection..

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) May 5, 2016

But then, with the American rout from Afghanistan more or less complete, all these ‘I told you so’ kind of posts serve no purpose, especially when after two decades of willfully looking the other way, they are ok with the humiliation being heaped upon them.

So let me now try and make sense of what MIGHT happen next.

Mind you, no one can say for sure how the Afghan cookie will crumble this time round. So at best, I’ll offer my own guesses on the same.

Since the US has lost the two decade long war, it might be fair to start by asking who is it that has actually WON it?

A mighty difficult question, no?

On my part, I did try to answer this question as far back as March last year.

Which brings me to the question whether it is Pakistan that has won this war.
Well, they do come close to being the ones who have 'won'. The simple reason for this being that they will get yet another opportunity to place yet another friendly regime in Afghanistan.

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) March 2, 2020

It formed part of a really interesting chain of thoughts in light of the recently concluded US-Taliban deal under the Trump administration. Do have look if you have five minutes to spare – On the US-Taliban Deal

But moving on to what might happen next, I’d say the decade of the 90s does offer a template of some sorts. Even though there are newer stakeholders this time round, the principal actors remain unchanged – Taliban and Pakistan Army.

Why PRINCIPAL actors?

Well, I’ll just leave this tweet here without any further comment.

Remember the cruise missiles that Bill Clinton sent cruising via Pakistan into Afghanistan to target Osama bin Laden after the Tanzania and Kenya embassy bombings?
Amongst those killed were LeT terrorists as well as a number of ISI personnel.

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) March 2, 2020

Well, after Kabul fell in the mid 90s, came a wave of terror attacks around the world, mostly on American targets, ending up ultimately with the 9/11 bombings that brought the US back into the region with Operation Enduring Freedom.

Unfortunately, the operation was neither Enduring, nor did it bring about any Freedom!

The reason for that has already been mentioned above in the blog post.

In the days immediately after 9/11, America had famously asked Musharraf whether he was with them or against them. I guess they finally know the answer to that question atleast, even if at the cost of more than a trillion dollars and so many lives.

Q: What is the one common factor between the Soviet and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan?
A: BOTH were accomplished by a combination of American money sent into Pakistan and Pakistan sponsored + Pakistan based 'enemy'!#JustSaying

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) July 19, 2021

Of course, India too witnessed a surge of terror attacks in Kashmir as well as outside in rest of the country as a cocky Pakistan, drunk on the recent ‘victory’ in Afghanistan, channelized part of the terror machine towards us.

I remember reading newspapers during college days and for some time after that in the 90s, talking about Afghans and even Somalis fighting in Kashmir. At that time I couldn’t really fathom the reason why. But it became amply clear later on as I read more into the subject.

And then with the US finally back in Afghanistan, came the J&K Assembly bombing, the Parliament attack, the Kaluchak Massacre, countless bombings in the hinterland and finally the 26/11 attacks. Part of the reason why India didn’t take overt military action against Pakistan after the Parliament, the Kaluchak and the 26/11 attacks was thought to be the presence of Americans in Afghanistan and how diverting Packie military away from ‘helping’ them might impact their own war.

Well, the results are there for all to see.

So what is different now?

.

.

Well, first and foremost, there is a Govt in Delhi which will simply NOT accept terror attacks any more.

From the BSF plastering the Pakistan rangers in Oct 2014 all the way till Abhinandan shooting down an F-16, they have shown that they are willing to walk the talk. I’m sure the brown panted ones have not changed the colours of their pants for so long because they know it is good for .. err .. camouflaging .. their panic induced involuntary bowel movements. So to that end, I don’t worry too much. Here .. this video down below will help explain my point a bit more clearly 

Mind you, I’m not saying that there won’t be any more terror attacks inside India, or on Indian interests abroad. In fact, knowing whatever little I do about the Paakis, I am actually COUNTING upon them to oblige sooner rather than later, of course with a fig leaf of deniability.

The euphoria of a ‘victory’ in Afghanistan is likely to result in a terror attack or two on India in the coming days and months. But then, what comes back towards them in the aftermath is perhaps a topic for another blog post some day.

However, I am willing to bet that sovereign Indian territory stands a good chance at expanding by whatever degree it does, in case of a future attempt at being a bit too clever by the Brown Panted ones.

But then, it is just a personal opinion!

So back to Afghanistan, reports just coming in that President Ghani has made good his escape. A wise decision, I’d say, especially since his so called ‘ally’ too has run away, leaving him alone.

What comes next in Afg is a vacuum.

Why a vacuum, when the Taliban are likely to establish a govt, you ask?

Well, because they cannot sustain an independent country based merely on terror and drug trade. They couldn’t do so in the 90s, and they can’t do so now.

At that time, it was Pakistan that was their surrogate mother – feeding them to the extent it could, and reaping a rich harvest from the terror factories for export to India and elsewhere.

Mind you, the first major attempt on the World Trade Centre had a Packie mastermind!

Back to the vacuum now.

Who might try & fill it up this time, is a question being asked far and wide.

China seems to be the obvious ‘winner’ in this debate, & for good reason too. A hubristic, self-anointed ‘Chairman for Life’ who has no option but to appear ‘strong’ rules China!

He wouldn’t want to be seen as shying away from leading the Middle Kingdom use its Mandate of Heaven to restore order in the ‘Barbarian’ nations on its periphery! So what if his much hyped PLA is just that – Hype!

Feel free to disagree, but do read this blog post below. I insist!

People’s Liberation Army – Calling the Bluff

Add to that the fact that the Chinese have been eyeing the seemingly HUGE natural resources deposits in Afghanistan AND have the money power to make their play, makes them a viable alternative to fill in the vacuum. Further, add to that the fact that they already have a direct land route via Gilgit-Baltistan to Afghanistan, and this makes all the more sense.

In fact the bomb attack on Chinese workers in Dasu in NW Pakistan too might have been an initial salvo in trying to lay down rules of ‘engagement’ by the Packies and their Talibani ‘friends’, for all I care.

But then, how might this affect India, is the question that bugs me at times.

Well, the answer that I am coming round to, is that it hardly has any material effect on India!

In fact, it will divert Packie energies away from own borders for the near future atleast, as they try to get the game to settle down to their advantage before looking elsewhere. It was easy in the 90s since Russia and China had absolutely no role to play.

But now, the USA, though having run away from the immediate battlefield, is unlikely to let the new benefactors of Taliban have an easy run, especially if they are the ones that bow to a certain Mr Xi.

Once the dust settles after the battle to formally capture Kabul is finally over, our brown panted ‘friends’ might just discover that they are caught bang in the middle of a shadow war between their two biggest clients!

Reminds me of this epic moment from the good old 90s!

This possibility of a shadow war leads me further to a conspiracy theory.

Feel free to dismiss it as a figment of my imagination, but I’ll still say it out loud here because .. well .. I can!

What are the odds that the sheer quantum of fully serviceable American military equipment falling into the hands of the Taliban isn’t merely a coincidence, but instead, a ploy to make things more difficult for the next superpower that tries its luck in Afghanistan?

However, that STILL doesn’t take away the fact the the USA has literally run away from battle. This tweet came to me via a DM earlier this evening and basically stole my thunder since I was thinking about saying pretty much the same thing in this blog post!

But then, the US does have a few military victories since WW2. Three, to be more precise.

These were in Nicaragua, Panama and Iraq (Gulf War 1).

The reason why they ‘won’ was simple – They pulled out in time!

I know there might be some who might be thinking this ‘pulled out’ thing is an attempt at inserting a pun in the middle of this blog post. Well, all I will offer to such folks is that you are entirely correct!

No bastards spawned out of these campaigns, atleast militarily!

In the current context too, pulling out after killing Osama might have been an honourable way out, regardless of who ruled Afghanistan thereafter. But time for that is long gone.

Then there are some who talk about Afghanistan being a graveyard of empires – mostly the Soviet & the American ones. To them, all that I will offer is this tweet once again, for them to find the common factor!

As far as successful foreign rule over Afghanistan goes, the last empire to rule Afghanistan successfully was that of Maharaj Ranjit Singh. So it is not something that has not been accomplished before.

But for the time being, this point is moot.

Of course, China may ultimately choose to simply NOT to enter Afg, either directly or thru proxies. But knowing them, this is unlikely to be the scenario. Whether they like it or not, they are most likely to get sucked in, either willingly or unwillingly.

The recent bomb attack on Chinese engineers in Pakistan is quite likely to have been just the first of some more attacks that Chinese interests in Pak and Afghanistan are likely to come under, in the near future. Whether Paakis can control this or not, remains to be seen.

I say this because I know for a fact that Afghans are no fans of Pakistan. Heck, even the Taliban regime of the 90s refused to acknowledge the Durand Line despite Pakistan being one of the only three countries that recognised them!

Oh, and this too happened less than two years ago!

The marriage between Taliban and Pakistan is merely a marriage of convenience, for neither own the Afghan Nation that never wanted to recognize Pakistan in its current form as far back as 1947!

Mind you, acrimony that Afghans feel towards Paakis goes beyond mere govt levels. It is a feeling that runs throughout much of the Afghan population who know for a fact that Paaki meddling in search for ‘strategic depth’ is the biggest reason for their misery

To that end, I’d rather say that Afghanistan is indeed a strategic depth .. but for India!

Yup, feel free to read that again.

An Afghanistan that sucks in Packie energies and resources is always good for us. It will continue to be so for atleast another year or so, if not more.

Of course, there will be some spillover across the LoC into India .. perhaps even in the hinterland. But then, all that will serve to do is to give another reason for the Indian military to overtly punish Pakistan as has been the trend lately.

A terror factory will be of hardly any use in case the Indian Army or the Air Force or the Navy come calling across the LoC or even the IB. They’ve shown it before during the surgical strikes and the Balakot attack, followed by the shooting down of the PAF F-16.

I’m sure the Packies know this.

Or maybe in their hubris, they might still try and overreach .. who knows.

But one thing is for sure – it is China that is going to have another front active, in addition to the Himalayan front and the South China Sea / Taiwan fronts!

THAT is something which needs to be looked out for.

THAT is something that I am eagerly awaiting to see happen & then to see how things progress from thereon.

THAT is something which I wish to see Packies try to turn into their favour with both their baaps as I mentioned earlier!

THIS is what the game is in the medium to long run in the days, weeks, months and years to come, as the wheels of history churn towards another turning. And as they say, wheels of history require blood to give them motion.

Thus far it was American blood.

Will it be Chinese next?

Like I said, we will need to wait and watch for how things pan out.

But then, one more thing that I don’t see may folks discuss is the fact that aside from the fact that the US is out of one war, this also means that the next war is just a matter of time, given their history!

Tweeted this more than two years back!

Let the conspiracy theories run wild, I say!

All said and done, what I await next in the immediate future is the visuals of the Taliban taking over American embassy in Kabul. Hopefully, such visuals will not be as gory as in the case of Libya and the US staff will have been successfully evacuated by then.

Oh, btw, these beautiful visuals of the Chinooks that I tweeted earlier in this blog post just led me to thinking where will these Chinooks go after evacuating the Americans .. Will they not go across the Durand Line into Pakistan?

Especially since American planes targetting Taliban continue to freely fly over Pakistani airspace even today?

Btw, those who are aware of the Kunduz Airlift might also want to draw some parallels with this currently underway evacuation of American personnel from Afghanistan!

Yup, give it a thought and you might find some newer insights as well!

As far as India goes, people getting alarmed at what might happen to us now, may want to relax a bit because what is fated, must be endured, but all I’ll offer is that we’ve endured much worse at a time when we were much weaker and much isolated and yet we lived to tell our tale.

So I conclude this blog post by offering this single statement: The 2020s are a bit .. different! 

#AanDeyo, is what I feel about the emerging situation, partly due to the fact that it is inevitable and partly due to the fact that the 2020s are a bit .. different!

Hope this long ramble has made some sense for those who cared to read!

Cheers!

Folks, sharing my experiences with an elderly COVID patient at home and how so many folks came together to help in the hour of need. Despite the loss, the coming together of so many people to help out in whatever way they could, was really heartwarming indeed.

He was a veteran from the armed forces, having served for almost four decades before retirement. Used to stay alone in a flat after the passing of my wife’s mother and his son having moved out due to a domestic dispute. Of late, he had developed a myriad of medical issues – diabetes, prostrate and some neuro issues following a brainstroke some years ago.

I order to look after him, my wife and kids had been staying with him for over five years now, even as I worked out of town.

He got some major work done in his flat a couple of months ago. As it turned out, in the midst of all this, he apparently stopped taking his medicines for a while and a few weeks ago, he told my wife that he was feeling dizzy. Taken to a doctor, his blood sugar was a whopping 498.

He was immediately put back on medication, this time under strict supervision of his daughter. She made it a point to prepare all three meals and take those to him every day, along with his evening cup of tea, all the while keeping a strict eye on his food intake and his medicines.

But the sugar continued to remain high and he fell down a couple of times as well.

Finally, last Saturday, she called me up frantically, saying that he needs to go to a doctor.

He had fallen down yet again and was thoroughly disoriented. Incidentally, this was also the day we had put him in an adult diaper, keeping in mind exactly such a situation. Rushed to a nearby doctor, his SPO-2 was detected at 82 & we were advised to take him to an emergency room.

We rushed him to a nearby hospital where we were told that they were only treating COVID patients and as such, even then they were short of beds. So the next stop was R&R Hospital where he was immediately put on oxygen and his SPO-2 went up to 93.

Even then we were under the impression that it was diabetes related. In fact he had been confined to his home for more than a month, coming in contact with just me, my wife and kids and two people who worked at his home. However, the doctors at R&R did a RAT test and told us he was COVID Positive.

This took us by surprise, as also changed a lot of things.

We were told that he needs to go to the Base Hospital since they were the ones nominated for COVID related cases. Moved there in an ambulance, we were dumbstruck at the number of patients out there.

Far too many, I’d say.

Finally when our turn came, the doctor said that he couldn’t admit him there and to arrange for oxygen, since he would need it.

What was said without words was that his condition wasn’t good.

Anyhow, we were given a cocktail of medicines for him, including one which the doctor said would further increase his blood sugar, for which an insulin injection was also given, that I was supposed to jab him with at night. So we went to the dispensary, standing in line with self-imposed social distancing, patiently awaiting our turn, till such time a gent with a Home Ministry strap around his neck cut right to the front of the line.

However we all in waiting in the line were far too drained mentally after all those hours waiting to get our loved ones treated that we let it be, not without disapproving looks, though.

After all, he might have had someone far more critically ill.

Finally, I got the medicines and we were on our way back, with my wife working the social media looking for an oxygen cylinder. Soon she got a lead of a guy called Ankit who promised to make one available for Rs 40K.

By this time my phone battery had run out and her’s was about to, so she requested her sister to transfer the Rs 15k advance. The oxygen would reach us by 10 pm.

Her sister called back that on PhonePe & Google Pay, the names associated with the number were showing Mushtaque Ahmed & Asmat Hussein respectively. Upon being called, he said that the names were of his associates. It looked dicey, but given our situation, I suggested we pay him.

Of course, no oxygen arrived and the number was soon switched off (more on this in a while).

It took till 2:30 at night before my wife’s networks worked their magic.

This was the first good samaritan to reach out to us. The first of many more.

A little known acquaintance said that he had a spare cylinder and that he would get it refilled the next day and get it delivered to our society. All that he asked for was for us to pay the person bringing it, the cost of refilling the cylinder.

He also said that we need to procure a kit to go with the cylinder – regulator, pipes etc for it to be used by my FIL.

That struggle would commence in the morning. Thankfully, he woke up in the morning quite energetic and aware of his surroundings, having hearty meals as well. So I put out a query for leads on the kit in my WA groups the next morning. And I got a prompt call by a classmate saying that he had tied it up, thanks to a doctor friend and that I should go to a particular pharmacy to pick it up.

Since my FIL was doing fine, I decided to go post lunch. In any case, the oxygen cylinder would only be available by evening.

So I reached the pharmacy, and was promptly told that they don’t have the kit I was looking for!

I called up that classmate of mine and five minutes later he was there with me at the pharmacy. Check yet another good samaritan.

A quick call to that doctor friend and the pharmacist said that he indeed had a kit lying about. But to give it to me would be a difficult job since there were quite a few more people looking for the same thing right outside his shop.

As he tried to find a way to smuggle it out, my friend and I got talking.

He told me of an instance when the same doctor friend had to turn away two very senior bureaucrats looking for beds since he didn’t have any. At the same time he said with irony that one of them was probably the guy who had been sitting on the case file for increasing of the bed capacity of that very (govt) hospital for nearly one year.

Anyhow, I finally got the kit and paid the insane amount demanded for it and was soon on my way home. I reached just as the guy with the oxygen cylinder too arrived.

We thanked the guy who was from Delhi Police and had gone all the way to Ballabhgarh to get two cylinders filled, one for us and one for himself. That was the deal with the guy whom my wife had contacted. He had two cylinders and had requested the police guy to get both filled up as a pre-condition to provide him one cylinder for his own need. We paid him Rs 3k towards the cost he had incurred for the cylinder.

Incidentally, he was from the cyber crime branch and we gave him the details of the guy who had conned us the previous evening.

Finally I carted the cylinder to my FIL’s flat. Now came the question of installing the kit. The old man was doing fine, but still there was the urgency. In the meantime, biwi had spoken to the folks at the local Iskon Temple for oxygen. Not having oxygen, they said that they would send daily meals for my family.

Check another set of good samaritans.

Then they also mentioned that one of their volunteers had the special key needed to install the kit and got us in touch with him. 20 minutes later, I had the key and a set of quick instructions on how to install the kit. I requested if he could himself come over and install it for us but he said that he was rushing to get someone else admitted in a hospital. So I returned home, key in hand.

That guy didn’t even ask for anything other than requesting an early return.

And his positivity also took my mood a couple of notches higher.

By the time I reached home, my wife had got hold of a technician who came over promptly to install the kit. We paid him Rs 700 for a quick and professional job and as it turned out, it was just in time.

Almost as soon as he was finished installing, I got a call from the owner of the key asking for it back since he needed it for another installation. I rushed back to hand it over to him.

That person had been up and about for quite some time by now, helping out all who needed help.

Anyhow, the Iskon folks had delivered five meals by the time I reached back.

The sumptuous meals from Iskon were a big help indeed, especially for the kids who had been relying on Maggi for the past couple of days.

As I mentioned, the old guy was in good spirits throughout that day. So the day had been spent on video calls with all his children and grandchildren. In fact, even his long estranged son had called up and FIL was able to see his youngest granddaughter after nearly six years.

That night he started coughing.

I remembered what the doctor had told – he WILL need oxygen.

Thankfully, we had atleast 24 hours worth of supply with us which saw him through the night. Next morning saw another flurry of video calls to children and grandchildren.

However, his cough worsened and so did his overall condition.

At about 1:30pm, a technician from a nearby lab came over to collect my family’s swab samples for our own RTPCR test. It had taken nearly 36 hours to get that done after we started looking. They too were really swamped.

At about the same time, he said he wanted to go the the washroom. With his SPO-2 below 70, it wasn’t a good idea but he insisted that he needed to clear his bowels. I suggested he do it in the diaper, but disoriented, he kept pulling away the oxygen pipe and insisted on going.

I finally took him there quickly and realized that he had already soiled his diaper. Anyhow, after helping him sit on the toilet seat, I went out to give my own swab sample and my wife came over to clean him up. I soon returned and helped him put on a new diaper.

At about the same moment, the oximeter reading ceased. He was no more, even though he was expelling gases from his mouth, possibly due to the oxygen still flowing into him. He had gone. My wife and I were both there at about the time this happened.

The only consolation was that he had gone relatively painlessly and quickly.

Ironically, having cleaned him up just a few minutes before, his own daughter had given him a final bath of sorts as well.

It was less than 48 hours after his diagnosis at the R&R Hospital.

Now began another struggle – that of cremating him before the day was out.

And alongwith this struggle came about yet another bunch of helping hands, practically on their own.

After putting in a query about a hearse van / ambulance, another classmate called up and said not to worry, he was arranging for an ambulance. Next moment he added another guy on the call who would provide me an ambulance and an attendant to help move my FIL’s mortal remains. They happened to be from a hospital in Old Delhi and would take about an hour to reach.

So I took a wet towel and gave a sort of a ‘Panch-Snan’ to his dead body to the best of my ability. Meanwhile, my wife had stabilized and together, we both got him in a PPE suit for his final journey.

Just as we were finished doing this, the ambulance boys landed up. They had requested on phone (while enroute) that we try and arrange 2-3 people to help carry the mortal remains down. However, the attendants etc in the housing society politely refused, due to it being a COVID related death.

Looking back, I don’t blame them for it, even though it did take me by surprise at that moment.

The good samaritan of Iskon too was unable since he himself had gone into quarantine with a couple of suspected COVID cases within his own family.

Ultimately the ambulance driver, the attendant and I brought him down to the ground level where my wife joined us in lifting him up and putting him in the ambulance.

It was to be just me and my wife who would have to conduct the last rites.

No one else could make it. Both his other children were settled outside Delhi.

Anyhow, the same society attendants who were unable to help us with moving the body, had in the meantime, arranged for flowers for his last journey – something that we had just not thought about, swamped as we were making the arrangements for his funeral. And those folks were also there standing respectfully as the ambulance moved out.

Yet another bunch of good folks, doing their best under the circumstances despite their own fears.

I kept on the tail of the ambulance as the driver drove it fast and furiously through the traffic, seeking to reach the crematorium in time. Finally we reached the place, once again, in Old Delhi.

Here, yet another struggle awaited us.

At first, they were aghast that we had brought a body all the way over there, instead of going somewhere closer to home. Then they said we had not intimated them prior. Finally, the manager referred me to the Pandit Ji who was coordinating the cremations.

He was one hassled man. Not surprising, seeing the sheer number of funeral pyres all around. His first reaction upon hearing my request – get him tomorrow at 11 am. Nothing can be done right now.

Taken aback, I started calling people looking for a morgue.

I was in no mood to argue for a slot for cremating my FIL – firstly, because that just isn’t part of my nature and secondly, because that wasn’t the way he should complete his final journey – begging for a slot.

The ambulance attendant suggested that I ask him again.

But even before I could mull over it, the Pandit Ji himself came over and told us to wait for about 10 minutes and he would do something for us. Yet another good samaritan had decided to go out of his way. As I said, people are fundamentally good. He was just the latest one.

Finally he told one of the crematorium workers to load wood on a cart for the cremation. The guy, named Rahul, asked me to get a couple of people and come along. I told him I was the only one and together, we two went to the shed where wood was stored.

It took us about 30mins to choose and load the wood. Somewhere in this duration, both the ambulance guys too joined us, still wearing their PPE kits in the middle of the Delhi summer, helping us pick and load.

Right there were two more guys going out of their way in our hour of need.

They then also moved on to help make the pyre for my FIL, along with another crematorium worker who, though dead tired, was still in good spirits. As it turned out, he had made about 20-25 pyres thus far in the day, which thankfully, was coming to a close now.

Finally, the pyre was ready and my wife consigned her father to the holy agni, even as her siblings watched on a video call.

It was now time to call it a day. After thanking all those present and paying their fees as needed, plus a bit more, my wife and I started back. Enroute, she got a call from the lady who had been sending tiffin for my FIL for the past few months. Upon learning that he was no more, and realizing that no food would be cooked in the house for the next few days, she insisted upon sending tiffins for us as well.

She was one more good soul offering help without being asked for it.

It had been a long day indeed. We had been all alone, yet there were so many good souls all around to take the load off our backs. With hindsight, somehow it seems that the entire humanity had come together to ensure that things happen without much trouble.

The next day we went to the pyre again to pick up his ‘Asthiyan’ for the final visarjan at the ghat near the Gurudwara Saheb at Maju Ka Tila. Once again, as I carried the load all alone, there was a voice from behind, with one kindly Sikh gentleman asking if he could help.

I declined this time, carting the load all alone and finally handing him back to the Mother Earth.

On the way back, we got our RTPCR test results.

Self and the kids tested negative, while the Missus tested positive. That is a story for another day, after she recovers, though.

All in all, this had been quite an emotional journey which could have been far worse, but for the kindness of known as well as unknown people who took it upon themselves to help us navigate through it all.

May God bless them all

Ok folks, carrying on from THIS blog shared two days ago, let me share some thoughts on the current situation in Pakistan and how I view it. Opinions shared here are strictly personal, and were initially shared on Twitter a few hours ago.

Firstly, in case u missed it, do go thru the blog linked in the paragraph above, before moving ahead. However, even if u don’t, it won’t matter because this chain of thoughts that I’m tweeting today, is mostly unrelated to the issue of yesterday, that was a bit personal, with my twitter handle too figuring in a Pakistani report!

 

Now why I got interested in this topic is 'coz my handle too figured in the beautiful graphic tweeted by the handle, for being tagged as part of the trend.
Hence this short thread.
Thoughts are still disjointed. Let's see how it goes.https://t.co/MezZMRb3Uf

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) April 21, 2021

Ok, firstly, a quick recap of things as they developed:

Last year, a young girl in a French school, in order to hide the fact that she had been suspended for skipping classes, lied to her father that her teacher had told Muslim students to leave class as he showed photos of Prophet Mohammed to the rest of the class. Unsurprisingly, the teacher in question was dead 10 days later, beheaded by a fanatic after the girl’s father went ballistic with rage on Facebook. Here’s a link to a report on the issue, for those interested:

Samuel Paty Murder: How a Teenager’s Lie Sparked a Tragic Chain of Events

Soon thereafter, the French President honoured the slain teacher and his Govt conferred upon the teacher, Mr Samuel Paty, the highest civil honour of France – the Legion d’Honneur. This happened on 21 Oct 2020.

France, Waging a Crackdown, Honors a Teacher and Depicts a Plot in Beheading

Soon thereafter, a country whose capital city is almost 7,000km from Paris, erupted in anger and started burning itself down, crying hoarse at the happenings in France!

Not surprising at all, since the country in question calls itself the ISLAMIC Republic of Pakistan!

Of course, the fact that reactions across the dozens of Islamic countries elsewhere in the globe were far more measured, was lost on these self-styled custodians of their religion, what with their nuclear bombs, ballistic missiles and bottomless begging bowls!

Soon, the govt of Pakistan caved and promised the TLP (who were at the forefront of the outrage) that they would discuss the removal of the French Ambassador to Pakistan, in their parliament. ‘Phew! Crisis Averted’, the handsome Beggar-in-Chief must have thought!

But he didn’t move ahead to honour his promise, relying instead on the supreme guidance by Shri General Zia ul Haq who had, with a straight face, stated that, well, you can lie when it suits you!

“Muslims Have the Right to Lie in a Good Cause”—Former President of Pakistan

Easy, no?

Yet, there was a small hitch – the yahoos, that were so ‘lovingly’ nurtured by the Brown Panted custodians of Iman, Taqwa and Jihad fi Sabilillah, had not forgotten!

They came back on the streets with a vengeance some weeks ago, more so after their leader was arrested in order to prevent exactly what followed in the Theatre of Absurd that lies to our West! Hashtags about civil war in Pakistan / Pak Govt Stop this Terrorism soon trended there!

The Pakistani State acted SWIFTLY as always – by shooting and killing / injuring these folks!

Then they delivered the next BIG blow to TLP – By banning them under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, essentially calling them a terrorist organisation!

TLP banned: What does it mean?

Sadly, the ban did practically nothing to help diffuse the situation on the streets! Finally, the govt of Pakistan realized that the yahoos on the streets were nothing but their own alter egos!

You don’t believe me? Well, the ‘Handsomest’ Prime Minister in this world HIMSELF said so!

The cave-in was swift and decisive, inspired no doubt, by the ‘exploits’ of their Brown Panted Ones on the battlefield! On that note, I’ll just leave this twitter thread from a couple of years ago, out here. Do browse thru it!

1
Slow afternoon.
Let me pass this time by doing a short photo thread on my new favourite hashtag – #RunawayPakArmy!
Apparently, two majors have been removed from Pak Army for 'misconduct'.
Timing of removal is rather unfortunate, though – when they're getting pounded on the LoC!

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) October 11, 2019

So the TLP leader was released from jail and the govt ‘promised’ that they would actually act upon their promise of last November by discussing the issue in the Parliament!

At the same time, the Beggar-in-Chief himself came on TV to address the outraged masses. However, what he basically said was that ‘Hamari Aukaat Nahi hai France ke Khilaaf kuchh karne ki. Oh, and one more thing .. blah blah blah .. Yahoodi .. blah blah blah!’

He also announced his latest ‘SCHEME’ – One where Pakistan, the custodian of the Islamic Nuclear Bomb, would share the responsibility for the mess on their streets with the rest of the Islamic world, well .. because as I said above – Uski khud ki aukaat nahi hai kuchh karne ki!

Ok, so with this as a primer / background, moving on to the events as they unfold now. The Pakistani Parliament finally took up the matter of expulsion of the French Ambassador earlier this week, thanks to the ‘gentle’ reminder by the TLP about their promise made last years!

Now this is a tricky situation for the parliamentarians of the ISLAMIC Republic of Pakistan – Who in their right mind would vote AGAINST the motion, especially on matters concerning the Prophet himself, Hainji?? More so when memories of Shri Salman Taseer Ji are still fresh?

Talk about a rock and a hard place, eh!

No wonder the PPP chose to valiantly RUN AWAY from the debate, citing moral outrage! Well Played, I must say!

Of course, the small matter of their Paise Ka Rishta’ with the French bore no weight in this matter. Sachchi!

Well, atleast the streets were empty. And this was a MAJOR victory over those Indians who had caused all that mayhem by trending ‘provocative hashtags’ on twitter!

But then, deep within Terroristanis themselves know that it is they themselves who are to blame for the shit that they have landed their country in.
Poor Old Indians, once again DENIED credit by the SMART Pakistanis! pic.twitter.com/BeE01JCMmE

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) April 21, 2021

However, all I will offer is this statement below:

Streets being emptied DOES NOT mean that the matter is resolved.

Yup. Feel free to read that again, even as the Pakistani Parliament hopefully puts the matter to vote soon.

It should be really interesting to see how the ‘Post Jumma Namaz Sessions’ pan out in Pakistan, btw, in case the Parliament verdict is not acceptable to the yahoos, provided it comes out by then!

The TLP have already tasted a few good doses of street power over the past few years. Make no mistake about that.

And where do they derive this street power from, even at the expense of the Pakistani State itself?

Answer to that lies in Pakistan’s Objectives Resolution of 1949 that said sovereignty belonged to ‘Allah Almighty alone and the authority which He has delegated to the state of Pakistan, through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust’

All that the TLP now needed to do was to prove to the Awam that they were working FOR the Almighty Sovereign.

Heck, they are even calling themselves ‘Ashiq ‘e Rasool’!

THIS, folks is the quagmire that the ISLAMIC Republic of Pakistan has gotten itself stuck into.

Talking about TLP, it is the same bunch of yahoos who were given cash by the mighty Brown Panted Ones not very long ago, along with a loving – ‘Kya Hum Aapke Saath Nahi Hai?’ Only thing that the Jernail didn’t do that day was kiss the yahoos!

Well, chickens have come home now!

Another question that comes to my mind is what next after the Pakistani Parliament votes unanimously to expel the French Ambassador? Do they really think France will just send another ambassador in lieu? Or will the diplomatic boycott have bigger ramifications?

The Beggar-in-Chief already partially alluded to it in his address, when he talked about their Aukaat. One thing seems for sure, however, that the Karachi Metro Red Line MIGHT get a bit delayed!

France to Provide Rs. 12.3 Billion Loan for Karachi Red Line Project

Add to that the ‘small’ matter of the large amounts of French origin equipment operated by the Pakistani armed forces, and things get even more interesting! All in all, Pakistan isn’t quite covering itself in glory with all this drama, which isn’t over yet!

I do worry about the safety of the French-origin equipment of the Paaki armed forces – you know, the 100+ Mirages (some of which fire the French Exocet missiles as well), the half dozen Agostas and even the three odd Falcon DA-20 ESM/ECM aircraft etc ..#JustSaying
😁 https://t.co/LvqVsXaqg9

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) April 16, 2021

On a more serious note, as I wind up this blog post, I can only wonder at how many new Mumtaz Qadris are slowly and quietly cleaning their weapons, waiting for their own Salman Taseers to show up in their gunsights.

Seriously.

Of course, like always, it is India’s fault that the TTP carried out a blast in Quetta in the middle of all this. Very convenient, I’d say.

India doesn’t want peace in Pakistan, says Sheikh Rasheed after Quetta blast

Just as it was in the case of the massacre of little kids at APS Peshawar some years ago.

No introspection needed when such a convenient enemy is available.
This poster in the funeral prayer for the children says 'The blood of children will result in fall of India, US, Israel'
Well, then, all the best to you, I say. pic.twitter.com/2EUShH5t5y

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) December 28, 2020

Keep being ostriches, and you will keep wondering ‘what went wrong’

Then there is the case of the boot being on the other foot, atleast with respect to the Beggar-in-Chief of Pakistan. Holding the state to ransom is fine ONLY when he is not in power! This is he saying exactly the same thing before being selected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan!

Watching the above video, can you really say the TLP did anything different from what their own Prime Minister did when he was not happy with the govt of the day?

Do mull over it for a while.

In the meantime, here is another ‘CANDID VIDEO’ of Shri Imran Khan calling himself .. err .. a Kutta, that was selected by the Generals who have no idea of leadership! Truly a Theatre of the Absurd, I’d say!

In the end, I really do pray that the TLP or some other set of yahoos in Pakistan do NOT stumble upon this depiction of their Prophet in the US Supreme Court, because expulsion of the US Ambassador won’t be a very good thing to do!

Muhammad Sculpture Inside Supreme Court a Gesture of Goodwill

I end this thread here by repeating what I wrote earlier in the blog – Streets being emptied does NOT constitute a victory for the Pakistani State

The matter is only beginning to move forward now. What happens next will be interesting to see!

So Shri Shoaib Taimur from Pakistan did an analysis of the ‘Civil War Trend’ in Pakistan a few days back. A fairly deep research, I must say, and some really interesting data points were brought about by the handle.

Kudos, indeed!

Going over the civil war trend and I can see a lot of Indian accounts there.

— Shoaib Taimur (@shobz) April 18, 2021

Let me share some thoughts on it here ..

Now why I got interested in this topic is ‘coz my twitter handle too figured in the beautiful graphic tweeted by the Pakistani gent, for being tagged as part of the trend!

A filtered network graph of the trend. Some people were tagged and were not part of it, while others were active participants. pic.twitter.com/jE2u8yujed

— Shoaib Taimur (@shobz) April 18, 2021

Hence this short blog post!

Thoughts are still disjointed. Let’s see how it goes!

Firstly, it would be naive to assume there would be no interference in the other’s internal affairs from across the LoC / IB because it’s a well known fact that the two countries don’t really count each other in their list of ‘friends’.

Just to reinforce my statement above, I’ll share this tweet from a thread that I call #PakTrends, which has been chronicling the exact same phenomenon from across the borders in Pakistan, even though I don’t have even 1% as many details as Shoaib Ji above!

42#PakTrends
So the Prime Minister of India travels to a South Indian state for a summit with the Chinese President.
And #GoBackModi tweets start greeting him.
But get what, most of such tweets emanate from Pakistan! pic.twitter.com/EU6Hy0mJAV

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) October 14, 2019

So it is a fair assumption to say that the other side too is not very much ‘दूध का धुला’. Far from it, in fact!

Here’s one more tweet from the above thread, just to reinforce my point!

43#PakTrends
So Delhi sees communal violence and Voila .. the TOP THREE trends in the Land of the Pure get dedicated to that!!
Now pl tell me there is no 'moral' support from across the borders to the instigators – both online as well as those on the streets. pic.twitter.com/6wuCl0JMnP

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) February 25, 2020

In fact, just take 100 seconds to go through my thread quoted in the tweet above, before moving ahead in this thread. Totally worth it. Promise! Here’s the link to that thread as archived in this very blog of mine –

On Twitter Trends in Pakistan

Moving on! All I wish to say is that there cannot be a fire without fuel. And fire was aplenty in Pakistan in the days that have just gone by.

As was firing, and killing by security forces.

Whether or not it constituted a ‘Civil War’ is a matter of perception, but things were definitely quite ‘Uncivil’, to say the least. Here’s another citizen of Terroristan shouting that their own army is killing them!

I hardly think he was running any account on twitter to ‘DEFAME‘ Pakistan!!

And neither was this doctor!

OK, perhaps the Doctor Saab might have been on Twitter. But then I’m not quite sure he would have disagreed with the ‘Civil War Trend’!

Oh, and BTW, Indian accounts tweeting from India could NOT have trended any hashtags INSIDE Pakistan, no? That could only have been done by Pakistanis tweeting from within Pakistan!

And another interesting hashtag I came across was ‘Stop Govt Terrorism’!

Of course, our man Shoaib Ji had a ready answer for that – They were FAKE Pakistani accounts, or perhaps TLP themselves!

NO OTHER GENUINE PAKISTANI handle seemed to have been tweeting using that hashtag, it seems!

Yup. Here are some of the ‘Fake Pakistani Accounts’ or TLP that were trending the offending hashtag inside Pakistan. They do look the part, don’t they? #JustAsking

Of course, serving soldiers of Pak Army threatening to join the ranks of the protesters too was dismissed as Indian Propaganda and fake news! Even in case of a soldier who didn’t hide his face or name, for that matter. I doubt he breathes anymore. Seriously!

Here’s a video of the guy, btw. He looks straight into the camera with his one good eye, while the other .. well .. looks somewhere else!

Damn those Indians .. they could have atleast found a ‘MODEL’ who could atleast look straight with BOTH his eyes!

Yup, as per some Pakistanis, it was Indian handles tweeting with a ‘Civil War Hashtag’ that caused all this mayhem INSIDE Pakistan!

I’m sure even the ‘good’ agencies within India would be surprised at how potent they are seen to be by their adversaries!

And then there was this officer from the Lahore Police who logged on to Twitter, realized there was a civil war going on inside Pakistan, and ordered his men to ‘Shoot Straight’ instead of firing in the air! ‘Seedha Goli Maar’, he shouts, and ends the ‘Civil War’!

But then, deep within Terroristanis themselves know that it is they themselves who are to blame for the shit that they have landed their country in.

Poor Old Indians, once again DENIED credit by the SMART Pakistanis!

Let me wind up this blog post now, since I do think I have made my point. I’ll just reiterate what I wrote in the beginning – WELCOME TO SOCIAL MEDIA! THIS is how it works. THIS is how you too ‘exploit’ it for whatever happens here in India. I’ve shared the #PakTrends blog above.

For all the wonderful work at analytics, fact remains that the Pakistan State has had to backtrack in the face of the fanatics that descended the streets. No amount of finger pointing at ‘Hashtag Campaigns’ from India can hide away that fact.

Period.

What happens in the Pakistani Senate during the debate on the expulsion of the French Ambassador, as demanded by the TLP, remains to be seen. In fact, I plan to share some thoughts on that as well by tomorrow evening.

As this thread comes to an end, I’ll share a screenshot of the Brown Panted Propaganda-in-Chief here, running a ‘Brilliantly Successful’ hashtag campaign of his own, and DEFEATING India, even if on a virtual battlefield because, well, the physical battlefield is a bit difficult!

So Dear Bhikharistanis, do go on analyzing trends & patting yourselves on the back at ‘Catching India in the Act’, even as your own countrymen go about burning your country. This is how I look at your analytics! Thank you for your time & patience.

In the end I’ll just add this one tweet here as well.

And here's a much senior officer from the same Army – DG Rangers – handing over cash to the very same people just about 3yrs ago.
With a BEAUTIFUL SMILE, he tells them – 'Kya Hum Aapke Saathi Nahi Hain?'
Yup, the Brown Panted Ones created the monster that now threatens Pakistan https://t.co/bNbhhsa22R pic.twitter.com/QrDt1bredh

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) April 15, 2021

Chickens ALWAYS come home to roost.

Period.

Folks, sharing some thoughts on the farmers’ protest, twitter, Koo etc. Let’s see how it goes!

Let me begin by talking about the wave of euphoria that the global ‘liberal’ ecosystem has been riding ever since the defeat of Donald Trump in the just concluded US Presidential elections.

I’m not going to comment upon the controversies surrounding the conduct of the election because frankly, it doesn’t matter anymore .. atleast not for the time being. However, fact remains that social as well as mainstream media played a BIG role during that election.

And the biggest of the highs came when they banned a still sitting US President from Twitter!

How’s THAT for ‘Cancel Culture’, eh?!!

One can only imagine the mood in boardrooms of atleast a few social media giants in the immediate aftermath – they had shown Trump his place!

But ..

They had only dared to do so once it was crystal clear that he wasn’t coming back to power! They didn’t have the guts to do so when, atleast in their opinions, he was being a danger to flow of authentic information.

So much for bravado, huh?

However, it hardly mattered now.
Not only was Trump out of office, but there was a brand new administration in place in Washington .. one that for most part endorsed their so-called worldview on ‘free’ speech!

Pretty soon, the next major ‘project’ was in sight – The Indian Democracy!
It was merely ‘coincidental’ that the capital city of the Republic of India was besieged by so called farmers, bingeing on pizzas, foot massagers and other good stuff that was magically appearing at the ‘protest’ sites.

That they didn’t know, and STILL aren’t able to clarify what exactly was it that they were opposing in the newly passed farm laws was immaterial!

26th January was keenly awaited by the ‘champions of free speech’. The very foundations of the Republic of India were supposed to be shaken to their very core that day, thanks to the protesting ‘farmers’ stealing the thunder from the Republic Day celebrations!

And true to their form, the loonies on their tractors didn’t disappoint!

Visuals of the ruckus created by them at the Red Fort soon occupied more newsprint than the Republic Day celebrations, what with the disrespect to the Tricolour and all that.

Yes, they were on a high!

But ..

What they didn’t know was that the govt, through its supposed inaction, had in fact given them a looooong rope, and now they had hanged themselves from that very rope!

Visuals of the Tricolour being disrespected soon turned their ‘victory’ over its head!

Since the Pulwama Attack, I haven't seen this kind of anger coursing through the Nation. The bastards have bitten off more than they can chew. Now they stand a good chance of choking over their own bile.
Eagerly waiting to see how things develop over the next few days.#RedFort

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) January 27, 2021

The ENTIRE Nation rose as one against them. The so-called ‘farmer’ protest had fallen flat under the weight of its own contradictions!

Of course, they refused to believe that and decided to march to the Parliament just about a week later!

But the ‘powers that be’ were aware that the damage had been done by the antics of the tractor guys at the Red Fort. They decided that for the movement to be salvaged, the march to the Parliament just had to succeed, no matter what the cost!

Thus they decided to bring out the ‘Big’ guns!

Rihanna Ji, Mia Ji, Greta Ji and many many more world famous ‘crusaders’ descended upon the social media talking about the poor ‘farmers’ of India. Their tears were as real as the best ‘makeover’ artists could make them to be!

But then, though they are renowned for their ‘outrage’, such folks are rarely accused of something far more sinister – That of being Intelligent!

Greta Ji soon leaked out the entire ‘cheat-sheet’, or the toolkit as she called it!

That mohtarma not only leaked out the entire plan, but also those associated with it! This international panauti resulted in atleast one FIR against a fellow ‘crusader’ in Mumbai and also forced quite a few twitter accounts to be self-deleted!

ਪੈ ਗਈ ਪਨੋਤੀ!
🤣 https://t.co/BUZCCy5il2

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) February 4, 2021

Needless to say, the mega march to Parliament too fizzled out without a trace! Farmer protest was now postponed to the month of October!

Oh, talking about panautis, I’ll leave this tweet here as well!

ਪੈ ਗਈ ਪਨੋਤੀ!
🤣 pic.twitter.com/BKDnvnRveq

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) December 27, 2020

The Indian democracy had withstood a massive assault and emerged unscathed, atleast in this round.

Why I say this?

Because I am of firm conviction that this isn’t over yet. Kutte ki duum will never get straightened, not until it is cut off, that is.

The GOI requested Twitter to take action against some usual suspects that were seeking to fan violence through disinformation. Twitter obliged them and withheld some of the big handles .. TEMPORARILY!

The moment they realized, those handles were back!

Take that GOI, their boardrooms must have echoed!

But the GOI not only took that, but also hit it out of the ground for a six, when they now demanded a thousand plus handles to be sorted out for indulging in propaganda against the Union of India!

Unsurprisingly, STILL riding their hubristic high, Twitter folks simply REFUSED to do so!

TWEETS MUST FLOW, they said, and high fived each other! (Ok, so the ‘High Five’ thing is just a creative visualization of the offices of Twitter by yours truly!)

But there is no denying, the sanctimonious ‘crusaders’ of ‘free’ speech were far too drunk on their own preferred potions!

Until the Govt of India gave a ‘High Five‘ right on their cheeks and brought them back to Mother Earth!

These words uttered in the Parliament of India made it clear to Twitter and other such folks – Abide by our laws, or pack up.

I am glad with the way @rshankarprasad ji is handling twitter case. this firmness was much needed a statement on the floor of the house is a stern warning for all SM platform operators & #BigTechMafia pic.twitter.com/LtyVWVSth5

— anil kohli (@anilkohli54) February 11, 2021

Basically, here was the Govt of India, politely telling the social media ‘crusaders’ – SAADDA Kutta Tommy. Have no doubts about that!

Btw, it was the same Parliament that these ‘free speech crusaders’ had wanted to be seen besieged by their tractor mounted loonies!

Capitol Hill was an insurrection, but this would have been a ‘legitimate freedom’, just as the Red Fort mayhem was.

But then, no one has ever accused the ‘liberal’ ecosystem of double standards, right?

Well, back to the topic at hand, not only did the GOI slap them HARD, but also gave them the heebie-geebies when the Ministry of Electronics & IT itself moved on to a new platform – Koo!

I’m sure that the ‘good’ folks of Twitter must’ve got the message. They acted SWIFTLY, proudly proclaiming that they had blocked NINETY SEVEN PERCENT of the accounts reported by the GOI.

But like an errant child, who still keeps on sulking even after a resounding slap for his misdemeanours, they just couldn’t bring themselves to comply 100% with the GOI instructions.

TAKE THAT, GOI, their boardrooms must have echoed, even as they rubbed their reddened cheeks, trying to take out the sting of the slap somewhat!

What they STILL don’t realize is that just like their tractor mounted ‘friends’, they are also slowly hanging themselves by the rope!

Ok, time to travel back up this blog post a bit where I talked about the ‘inadvertent’ leak of the cheatsheet .. err .. toolkit; I dedicate this video to the collective intelligence of the ‘liberal’ ecosystem!

Moving on after that celebratory gunfire in the video above!

The GOI not only talked the talk, but they are also walking the walk.

Centre informs Parliament that IT rules are being amended to make social media platforms more responsive and accountable to Indian laws. These rules will also make digital media platforms to adhere to the Code of Ethics.

— ANI (@ANI) February 11, 2021

A much needed step, I’d say. These buggers CANNOT be allowed a free run to interfere with our internal affairs.

Till such time they were mere platforms for expression of views, it was fine. But ever since Twitter, FB etc assumed the mantle of being ARBITERS of free speech, they chose to forego that immunity that comes by the virtue of being a mere platform.

To quote the late uncle of Shri Spiderman Ji here, ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’.

However, atleast a few of the social media giants simply failed to adjust to the power that they wielded over flow of information, and tried to regulate it to THEIR OWN LIKING!

Instead of being a neutral platform, they decided to ‘moderate’ the content in order to ensure that one set of beliefs gets a larger audience at the expense of another. In came shadow bans!

Here’s a thread on that.

MUST SEE!

I INSIST!

Ok folks, sharing some thoughts on the #ShadowBan that I have been accused by many of being under, thanks to the good folks of Twitter.
But over time, I too have come to believe a bit in this whole #ShadowBan business.
Why, you ask?
Well, here's why ..

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) June 7, 2020

In their hubris, they forgot one VERY IMPORTANT thing – No one lives forever!

Awwww .. Twitter thinks that THEY are permanent!
🤣 https://t.co/aRZ9aVdV8L

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) February 11, 2021

Graveyards of the world are filled with people who thought they were indispensable!

Riding on a high of their ‘success’ in the recently concluded US Presidential Election, they think they can get away with anything.
Over here, allow me to indulge in a conspiracy theory – they are going to try to replicate this ‘success’ in 2024 Indian General Election as well.

Of course, I may be entirely wrong in that regard, but then, so be it!

Not only the 2024 General Election in India gives them a chance to remove another (in their opinion) ‘fascist’ regime, but more importantly, it would also serve as a validating ground for the next US Presidential election that will follow some months later.

But then, like I said, it might just be a figment of my imagination!

However, it definitely seems that the GOI will NOT let that happen. I doubt that social media giants will be given a free run to screw our elections by misinformation.

With the benefit of hindsight, the ‘App Challenge’ of August last year does sound a step in that direction, no? Twitter was already a bull gone rogue by then.

LINK: Koo App Wins PM Modi’s AatmaNirbhar App Challenge

Of course, there have been other ‘alternatives’ to Twitter in recent past – Tooter, Mastodon, Gutrgoo, Gab etc etc. However, with Koo there are two things that are different :-

1. GOI handles moving there.

2. Many more individual users moving there than on other platforms in past.

But this also means that Koo will always be accused of being a ‘Sarkari’ platform, even if it may not necessarily be one. Then there are other challenges to be overcome. This here is one of them (I’m just sharing this report as an example, mind you) – Link: Koo app found to be leaking sensitive users data, China connection surfaces – Technology News (indiatoday.in)

Of course, there is also the small matter of personal worldviews of the owners of the new app. Once again, NO insinuations are intended here by me. Instead, I just wish to highlight a potentially unknown factor.

#YeBhaaratKePatrakaar
Baseless insinuations et al!
BTW, ppl are saying that this one is the spouse of one of the founders of the latest 'darling' social media platform – Koo!
Take that, all ye RW people going gaga over Koo! pic.twitter.com/5i3c63gn4G

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) February 10, 2021

Then there is the small matter of a new platform ending up being an echo chamber for just one side of the political discourse. But then, isn’t twitter too well on its way towards becoming something similar?

Most of them RW handles, if Koo has to give a serious challange to Twitter, it will have to LW accounts too.

— अमित ਅਮਿਤ (@DesiOptimystic) February 12, 2021

In order to highlight the points I made above, I’ll leave this screenshot here.

The glee is quite apparent. But this dolt doesn’t understand that without a free exchange of ideas of ALL hues, social media would lose the very purpose behind its existence!

A LOT of people have alluded to this fact – free flow of all views. Here is what I too wrote not so long ago:-

#ShadowBan
It is this that will be the end of Twitter whenever it happens.
A platform that is seen to be selectively limiting reach of a particular type of users will soon lose them all.#JustSaying
:Fin:https://t.co/ony9HtyTEh

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) June 7, 2020

Gut feeling tells me that days of Twitter are limited, atleast in India.

Somehow, I doubt that Twitter will be as big a player in 2024 General Elections, as it is today. However, that said, Koo will always face the stigma of being a ‘Sarkari’ App. Ideally, a new app should have seen individual users endorsing it in good numbers, followed by Govt handles. Unfortunately, in case of Koo, it has been the other way round. Once again, I am NOT saying that it is by design. I am merely stating a fact.

What is ideally needed is an ecosystem which will see atleast a couple of indigenous apps competing on their own merits to be the one that will potentially become the leader in the aftermath of the demise of the current giants that rule the ecosystem.

To that end, one other app that I have been waiting for a while now is Chirrups App, who are working on a chat as well as microblog. Though nothing has been heard from them since long, I only hope they come up with something soon.

Their app on Playstore does have chat and microblog both functioning, but they don’t seem to have officially announced it yet. One hopes that their own platform matures soon, and there is atleast one more alternative available with us.

In the end, as I close this thread, all that I’ll say is : ‘Cancel Culture’ works both ways!

Just look at Koo. Just look at how Gaana fared on 12 Feb 2021, thanks to a bigoted idiot on their payroll.

As far as Twitter goes, I see many folks anticipating a temporary ban coming their way soon. While I don’t discount this possibility, I’ll ask them as to what is more damning – A ban, or the THREAT of a ban?

One allows them to become martyrs at the alter of ‘free’ speech, while the other keeps them in liquid oxygen!

Just think about it!

I’ll now conclude this blog post by leaving this statement made in the Parliament here.

In the end, let me just leave here yet another blog post from some months ago – On Hike Messenger – The China Owned ‘Indian’ App

Thank you for your patience!

Ok folks, so I came across this report a few weeks ago:-

Army Plans to Deploy Two Strike Corps in Mountains Facing China Amid Ladakh Crisis

This report talks about reorienting bulk of 1 Corps of the Indian Army towards the China border in Ladakh. Sharing some thoughts on the issue.

Here goes ..

In essence, what this means is that atleast two divisions of the Indian Army will reorient, and possibly physically locate, to Ladakh, along with the Headquarters of the 1 Corps. Frankly, this is a much needed exercise in order to plug own vulnerabilities in that region.

However, this movement / reorientation of two infantry divisions towards the LAC also means that there are going to be two divisions less in case of a contingency demanding their application on the Pakistan border. This is what I intend to talk about here in this blog post.

Now this is an interesting factor which I didn’t find many folks talking about!

Next month is the second anniversary of the Pulwama / Balakot / F-16 Shootdown incidents.

That we prevailed ultimately was due to some deft and aggressive diplomatic maneuvers backed with a solid military posture. Remember the ‘Knees were shaking’ disclosure in Pakistani Senate by a senior politician, when they decided to release Abhinandan? Or more accurately, they were forced to release him.

Here’s the video for those who missed it:

The most important takeaway from the video above is the fact that India was not only prepared militarily, but also willing to use force. Hence Abhinandan returned home in quick time. While on that topic, this thread might be good read as well:

2
Firstly, regarding the change of time from 5pm to 7pm.
I think it is fair to assume that it was precipitated by the Pakis' decision to release Wing Commander Abhinandan.
In fact, that announcement came less than an hour after I too speculated the same.https://t.co/UlaBnW8AKB

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) February 28, 2019

(Here’s the above thread in this blog: Thoughts On the Balakot Strike: Part III – The Tri-Services Presser in New Delhi)

Now fast forward from Feb 2019 to Feb 2021 that is barely a day away. Here’s what the geostrategic scene looks like from Pakis’ perspective:

1. Indian Army already heavily engaged along the LAC.

2. Winters winding down in a month or so, and the LAC will heat up again.

3. A brand new administration in USA, which is willing to ‘re-engage’ with Pakistan.

4. Also, the USA having a rethink over withdrawal from Afghanistan (that much more leverage with Pakistan).

5. Indian polity and security apparatus focussing on internal issues for the time being.

6. The internal issues facing India include the border state of Punjab.

Now if I were a general saab sitting in Rawalpindi, I would most definitely be salivating at the prospects that await exploitation, if only I played my cards right!

A Pulwama type provocation at this point in time, especially once the winters are over and LAC once again active, may NOT draw a response similar to one in 2019, right?

Not when the Chinese are sitting pretty on the LAC!

Yes, there is already talk about de-escalation on the LAC, but then, no side can be really sure how it happens atleast till a couple of months well into the summer. And even thereafter, it might be fair to assume that a substantial number of Indian troops will continue in Ladakh.

Heck, that is exactly what is written in the report linked in the beginning of this blog!

As a Brown Panted General Saab sitting in Rawalpindi, one couldn’t have asked for a better set of circumstances. Their own country may be going down the drain and running out of money, but then, a military clash, or more specifically, the threat of one, will be a good diversion for the masses, no?!!

In all fairness, forces located elsewhere in the country can most definitely be moved from one border to another. In fact it was done during Operation Parakram as well, as chronicled in this report below:

Twice in 2002, India was on the verge of striking against Pakistan

But the big question is whether India will be able to move those forces under current circumstances, especially if a provocation from Pakistan pre-empts a de-escalation on the LAC?

THIS, folks, is the big question bugging me.

The answer seems quite obvious, no?

The window I personally will be watching out for is spread over two months or so, from mid-Feb onwards. In fact, with Khalistani links coming out wrt the ongoing ruckus in Delhi, part of that is already apparent because there is no Khalistan ‘Movement’ without a Pakistani link.

This possibility was already alluded to by me in a thread on twitter after the revocation of Article 370:

23
A riot within India?
Doesn't look quite likely as yet, but they'll be trying, no doubt.
Step up infiltration?
Yaaawn!
So what CAN they do?
My guess – they wait for the public anger to pass.
And if it doesn't?
Divert it.

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) August 12, 2019

You may call it a conspiracy theory, but then, I have my own views as seen in this tweet below!

#PakTrends
With all that happened in Delhi today, the 2nd & 3rd highest trending hashtags in Pakistan are no surprise, including the sheer numbers of tweets with them – pretty large for a country with hardly 3 million twitter users!
Enemies within & enemies outside as a tag-team pic.twitter.com/W29MGK7qOQ

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) January 26, 2021

(Here’s the above thread in my blog: On Twitter Trends in Pakistan)

Bottomline: We may be pre-occupied with the ruckus over the Farm Bills, and pretty soon, with the upcoming tensions on the LAC, it might be worth our while to look west as well, esp with our military machine pre-occupied at the LAC.

Hope this rant makes some sense!