On Friday night I went for a late supper with Dr. Roy and Salim Mansur. I was the least educated person at the table, with no alphabet soup after my name. As Salim held forth on the creation and self-destruction of Pakistan, we all got a little more educated. His article in yesterday’s Sun is only a small part of what was discussed at that table on Friday:

While staying in Islamabad I got to meet and hear opinions of many Pakistanis. The most revealing were, as I recall, in a seminar at a strategic studies think tank in which a retired military general and some academics participated, reflecting on the gains Pakistan had made in the Afghan war.

The panel members were exultant about Haq’s farsightedness.

Afghanistan had emerged as a land bridge for Pakistan to Central Asia, and as the strategic rear in its unremitting confrontation with Hindu-majority India over Kashmir.

The Afghan war was also a boon for Pakistan to reverse its humiliating defeat of 1971 in former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and seemingly unify the country behind Haq’s plans for an Islamic order.

As a personal aside, I always enjoy sitting at table with those who have fatwas on them. I find it more delicious than the food. It was especially poignant that the table next to us was a large Pakistani family who were less than enthusiastic about our choice of conversational topics. Ahem. To them I ask, if Pakistan is not a failed state, why the hell are you here in Toronto and not over there?

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