(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)
Noted public intellectual and former communications consultant Ehsanullah Ehsan has said that if the state were to be lenient with Waziristan MNAs Mohsin Daar and Ali Wazir, it would send a really bad message.
“Yes, there appears to have been no physical violence from the PTM side,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan, speaking to The Dependent while helping himself to some grapes at an undisclosed location. “But violence is not just physical in nature. There is emotional violence as well. There are slogans which can hurt. There is also a general, I-don’t-like-you-much expressions written on one’s face. Microaggressions, I hear they are called.”
The statement from the prominent rights activists came after MNA Mohsin Dawar was found in hiding and arrested by the military. The other MNA for the erstwhile tribal regions, Ali Wazir, was already in custody.
“The state should ensure that no one should be allowed to raise slogans or cast aspersions against its institutions,” he said. “What Ali Wazir, Mohsin Dawar and others at the PTM have been doing is bad, worse than anything any other organisation has ever done in the history of Pakistan.”
“I strain my head, poring through history, trying to look for examples, but no, I can’t find any single example, they are the worst, yes, sir,” he said.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have my synchronised swimming lessons in a bit.”