This

“He was a polymath conversationalist. His talk was a pleasure ride on an intellectual roundabout. It is difficult to explain his influence to anyone who has not felt the impact of his personality. Mediocre thinking struck him as several degrees worse than no thinking. Any one who spent an evening with him came back dazzled by the range of his learning.”

– Zia Mohyeddin describing Ijaz Husain Batalvi in the obituary he wrote for him.

Politically Primitive

He described Pakistan as a “politically primitive” nation and not fit for democracy. “[The] provisions relating to fundamental rights in our constitution are meant for highly sophisticated societies and not for a politically primitive country like Pakistan.”

Ijaz Husain Batalvi

May 16, 2000

(Whilst being interviewed by Asia Times Online)

Death Match

“The death match in Pakistan continues. In this three round match, the first round goes to the secutor. The opponent of the secutor is obviously a retiarius and hence it is a contest of armor against skill.”

– jLaLi Faqeer

August 7, 2023

Afghanistan

The Afghan Taliban are an illegal and unlawful, invading and occupying force just as the US and Soviet forces were prior and so was the British Empire after the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The only difference is that Taliban are indigenous.

Those Pakistani people who are celebrating the Afghan Taliban unlawful occupation of Afghanistan should realize that the equivalent would be the TTP (Pakistani Taliban) invading Islamabad and occupying the seat of government.

jLaLi FaqeeR

Humans

“Humans everywhere are the same. All individual and group specific pathological manifestations are the same; socio-cultural, socio-economic; socio-political, socio-religious environments are different; above all, timelines are different. Human history is a continuum. The observational lens of humans is very limited.”

jLaLi Faqeer

Mar 19, 2021

Wag The Dog

Those who think that the wagging dog in the Persian Gulf today is a new one don’t realize that it is a clone of the same one who was seen wagging in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964.

– jLaLi FaqeeR

Salvation

“Beware the charlatan who utilizes Organized Fear and peddles salvation, be it economic, political, cultural or religious salvation.” – jLaLi FaqeeR

“Organized Fear is the mother of Wilful Ignorance. Both rule humans through their manifest perversity.” – jLaLi FaqeeR

What do you own?

“My thoughts belong to the universe. I own nothing.” – jLaLi FaqeeR 

Climate Change Denial

Those who deny climate change are under the influence of and suffer from Jahalat.

“Jahalat is boundless but teaching Jahalat is a crime against Humanity.” – jLaLi FaqeeR

And what is Jahalat, Phaedrus?

“Organized Fear is the mother of Willful Ignorance. Both rule humans through their manifest perversity.” – jLaLi FaqeeR

Willful Ignorance occurs when an individual will choose to disregard the facts that they may be aware of or simply not acknowledge them. A self-induced or externally motivated perpetuation of Willful Ignorance eventually results in the metastasization of Jahalat.

Jahalat, in and of itself, is the predictive behavioural outcome which, in turn, is the manifestation of the continual recurrence of Willful Ignorance.

“Jahalat is boundless but teaching Jahalat is a crime against Humanity.” – jLaLi FaqeeR

Organized Fear comes in many forms and is perpetrated by various interest groups for their self serving benefits. These interest groups associate themselves with cultural, ethnic, religious, economic, national and other such constructs and, in turn, create and propagate narratives to induce said Organized Fear in certain humans such that it overpowers their cognitive, analytical and rational abilities and they are unable to question these narratives. Over time, this Organized Fear gives birth to Willful Ignorance and its perpetuation results in Jahalat.

“Through a Closed Mouth the Flies Enter” by Pablo Neruda: Last Stanza

What we know is so little
and what we presume is so much
and we learn so slowly
that we ask and then we die.
Better to keep our pride
for the city of the dead
on the day of the departed
and there when the wind goes through
the hollows of your skull
it will decipher these enigmas for you,
whispering the truth in the space
where your ears used to be.