Stock Exchange massacre

 It happens every couple of years. The Stock Exchange Index gradually increases for a few months, then there is a minor crash, then shares rebound and the cycle is repeated. This time, however, the crash is huge (from 190,000 to 160,000) and no one can explain why this is happening.

One reason could be (and probably is), the daily suicide attacks in KP and the bombing of Afghanistan. This war has been going on for a long time, as about 40,000 terrorists were allowed to enter Pakistan by Imran Khan, and they are wreaking havoc.

Another reason could be the impending attack on Iran by the US. If this happens, and Iran retaliates with attacks on neighboring countries, it will be the Third World War (which, by the way, has already begun, according to Ukraine President Zelensky).

There is another explanation that I heard on Twitter. It seems that whenever there are signs that Imran Khan is about to be released from jail, the market goes down. The man said that even though some businessmen voted for Imran in elections, they are scared that once he is let loose, he will again destabilize the country. 

Whatever the reason, I'm glad I got out of the share market about sixteen years ago, as I needed money to buy my present apartment.

Trump's war on iran

It's evident that Trump wants to bomb Iran so that a major threat to Israel is eliminated. In fact, there are conspiracy theorists who say that Israel got the Epstein files released so that Trump would need something to distract public attention from his pedophile activities. What is ignored, however, is that the US will be able to weaken China by bombing Iran to its knees.

China buys eighty percent of Iran's oil. After the US capture of Venezuelan oil, which was also China's major source, loss of Iranian oil will be a major problem for China. If Iran falls, China will have a hard time finding new sources of oil. This is Trump's real intention: remove China as the other superpower. 

But will Iran surrender? The US demands on the Iranian leadership are unrealistic. Even if Iran gives up developing its peaceful nuclear program, sanctions will still remain in place. So Iran gets nothing, and if it does comply, its leadership will be forced to resign and flee. Iran, therefore, has no choice but to fight until death. 

Am I taking too many pills?

A couple of days back, my oldest cousin suddenly kicked the bucket. He was five years older than me and lived a good life. What was surprising was that he never took any medication (not even vitamins), despite having run into a couple of vehicles last year (he said that it happened because for a moment he lost consciousness when driving). He should have gone to a doctor but didn't do so. Maybe he would have lived longer if he had. He even continued driving, even though he could well afford to employ two drivers.

His death made me wonder if I'm taking too much medication. I consume four vitamin pills, two pills for hypertension, four for curbing cholesterol and blood sugar, another two of collagen, an anti-allergic pill for sinusitis, and nowadays a pain-killing tablet twice a day for the (sometimes) excruciating pain in my back and left leg (due to sciatica). The question arises, despite being on such heavy medication, why am I not as healthy as my late cousin was?

Come to think of it, I have another close male relative (a couple of years younger than me) who never takes any medication either, despite being a smoker. I suppose some people are healthy because they inherited the required genes. 

Imran Khan's sudden eye trouble: another drama?

Imran Khan's sudden loss of vision in one eye is probably another drama to gain public sympathy. We saw how he claimed that he had been hit by seven bullets and needed a wheel chair to get around. But when arrested, he stood up and started walking.

I believe that the next step would be for his doctors to say that he needs treatment in London or New York and should be flown there. That way, everyone will be happy. Imran will claim there was no deal for him to be released. He will be able to spent the next two or three years out of the country and will be able to return when the next general elections are held. 

Of course, this kind of thing has happened before, when Nawaz Sharif was allowed by the apex court to go abroad for medical treatment. At that time, when Nawaz was seen walking without assistance, Imran had questioned the chief justice on why he was let go, seeing that he wasn't as sick as portrayed. But then, Nawaz made no secret of the fact that he was going out of the country as part of an agreement. Imran will never admit he made a deal with the powers that be to get out of jail.

 

Epstein saga and the evil white men do

 I'd once thought that white men were inherently good and incapable of doing anything wrong. It's because I'd been educated in a missionary school where the teachers always praised the British (even though most of them were not white). Slowly, as the years went by, I began to see that most white people were racist and thought themselves much superior to black and brown people.

My father, of course, knew that the colonizers were corrupt to the core. Once I remarked that a British judge could never be bribed. He replied, "Oh yes, in his own country, he would never take a bribe, but here he could be bought with a few hundred rupees".

Another time I read an article about Palestinian "terrorists" in the Readers Digest. The name of a prominent Palestinian, George Habash, was shortened to G. Habash, to prevent Americans from finding out that there were Palestinian Christians as well.

Then there was the BBC declaring jubilantly that Lahore had been captured by the Indians in 1965. When Pakistan's cricket coach (Bob Wilmoor) was found dead, the BBC openly hinted that heavily bearded Pakistani cricketers had killed him.

Now that the Epstein files have been released (despite every effort by Trump to block it), we know the depths of evil that the white race can stoop to. I'm almost convinced that Epstein did not commit suicide, he was murdered in jail. 

India's attempts to isolate Pakistan have failed

India has never fully accepted the existence of Pakistan. Just a few days after independence, India illegally occupied Kashmir, and even though Nehru promised to hold a plebiscite to determine the will of the people of Kashmir, India backed out on one pretext or the other. Before the Indus Waters Treaty was signed, India would periodically shut the water flow into Pakistan. 

In 1971, after the secession of East Pakistan, Indian analysts confidently predicted the break-up of what remained of Pakistan, but that didn't happen. 

For many years now, India has tried to isolate Pakistan from cricket, sometimes even preventing foreign players from playing in Pakistan. The tables have turned now, and the world of international cricket is in turmoil, because of Pakistan's refusal to play one match against India on 15 February in support of Bangladesh (as the ICC refused to accept the latter country's plea to play matches in Sri Lanka because it felt that its players were not safe in India).

Indians are bewildered how Pakistan can forego many millions just to support Bangladesh, which had also declined to play in Pakistan when it was ruled by an Indian-dominated woman. 

It should be interesting to see how the Indian-dominated ICC will deal with this situation.

Forty billion rupees looted during Imran Khan's rule in KP

We have always known that Imran Khan is not the Mr. Clean his supporters believe him to be. If proof were needed, his wife provided plenty of evidence. So it was no surprise that the biggest financial scam in the history of KP has occurred while Imran Khan's party PTI has been ruling the province for over twelve years.

In what is known as the Kohistan scandal, forty billion rupees were siphoned off into private bank accounts. One of the suspects is Azam Khan Swati, former federal minister in Imran's cabinet. It's easy to guess that this kind of theft could happen only with the connivance of one or more provincial ministers.

One of the looters is a clerk in the provincial works department. His front man is a dumper truck driver who was found to be in the possession of four billion rupees in cash and property. I suppose Pakistani mothers should now pray that their sons become clerks and dumper drivers instead of engineers or doctors. 

Even though part of the looted money has been recovered, it's doubtful if the real culprits (those in the government) will ever be caught. But at least the people of KP know how corrupt their rulers are and will be careful next time they vote.

Trump's mathematics

Just like us?

Published in The News on January 26, 2026   

Way back in the 1970s, Pakistan had a health minister who claimed in an international conference that he had got prices of medicines reduced by 1000 per cent by introducing generic drugs. He was asked how this was possible, as reducing the price of anything costing Rs 100 by a hundred percent would mean it would be available for free, and a reduction of a thousand percent would mean that the buyer would get Rs 900 as well as the free item. I do not remember what the minister said when this was pointed out to him (if at all it was), but it was forgotten in a few days.

I was reminded of this when I heard US President Trump promise a thousand per cent reduction in drug prices. I could understand a Pakistani minister saying it, as we know the state of education in our country, but how is it that even the US president does not know what a seventh grade student does? Should we then assume that the US is just another third world country?

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.thenews.pk/print/1395166-just-like-us

US Iran tension and property prices in Karachi

There are credible reports that Pakistanis in Dubai and other countries in the region are moving their wealth to Pakistan to buy property in their homeland. Prices of bungalows, apartments and plots have skyrocketed, particularly in Karachi's DHA. The main reason is that the US may attack Iran any moment, and the resulting war will cause destruction in Arab countries neighboring Iran (if it retaliates, as it has threatened).

It's been evident for a long time that the glamour of Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait is a sham. If there is even a minor disturbance there, like the public coming out on the streets to protest, the resulting panic will see a mass exodus of foreigners from these countries. The attacks on Iran six months ago by the US and Israel led to the shutdown of Dubai's airport. In fact, yesterday some major airlines cancelled their flights to Israel and the region, expecting an attack by the US on Iran. 

Let's hope sanity prevails and Trump can be persuaded to back down. 

Gul Plaza fire

DEATH TRAPS

Published in Dawn on January 23, 2026

Embed from Getty Images

THE recent fire at Gul Plaza proves that most buildings in Karachi remain death traps, and that nothing would be done to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future. Of course, there are people in the government whose duty it is to ensure that buildings are constructed with adequate safety precautions and have at least two emergency exits. There must be those who are required to visit such buildings periodically and ensure that fire prevention SOPs are being observed.

And we can be sure that, on paper at least, such officials have reported that all places they have inspected are safe, just as there are factory inspectors who never visit factories because they are paid to stay away and generate all-good reports.

That said, can everything be blamed on the government? What about the shop-keepers themselves? It has been many years since I last went to Gul Plaza, and I saw that many shopkeepers had kept their goods in the passages leading to the exits. This would have made it very difficult for their customers to quickly get out of the building in an emergency.

As for fire prevention measures, it is simply out of the question. Purchasing fire extinguishers and recharging them every six months is both time consuming and cumbersome. And, in any case, why waste one’s money on frivolous things like fire prevention measures? Right?

Of course, if relevant inspectors had regularly visited the building and imposed fines on errant shopkeepers, this tragedy could have been avoided. But, then, such officials have only one thing in mind: how to speedily recover the money they have paid to get transferred to Karachi, and how to become millionaires in a couple of years. Absolutely tragic.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1968588/death-traps