Faith, Hope and Charity

Charity will rain down on 23rd June, like it or not

The political landscape of Pakistan is peppered with any number of eccentrics, some more endearing than others. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) quite apart from having a leader that tacks from port to starboard almost daily is blessed — or cursed depending on one’s perspective — with Ali Amin Gandapur. He holds the position of Revenue Minister for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and has a colourful public profile. It will be recalled that last year he was booked for having a rather classy bottle of Scotch whiskey in his possession. His defence was that the contents were in fact honey — which would have come as something of a surprise to any number of bees.

His latest wheeze is to announce that he is to air-drop, by glider no less, Eid gifts to his constituents in DI Khan, an announcement made on his Facebook page. Those with a keen eye will have noticed that the aircraft used as an image to support the text of this announcement is a Gloster Gladiator, last used by the British in World War 2 and presumably not the ‘glider’ that Mr Gandapur was thinking of deploying. (Gliders are unpowered; the Gladiator had a Bristol Mercury radial engine) There is however a link. The Gladiator achieved considerable fame when it was used to defend the beleaguered island of Malta. At one point goes the unreliable tale the brave little island was down to just three aerial defenders, the doughty Gladiators, and the trio were named as Faith, Hope and yes — Charity.

Thus it is that Mr Gandapur is going to bomb indiscriminately and without much thought as to where the payload might land on the unsuspecting people of DI Khan. Charity, which Mr Gandapur says is paid for from his own pocket, will rain down on 23^rd June, like it or not. We cannot help thinking that charity would be better served had he distributed his largesse directly into the hands of the needy — or even better have it delivered by squadrons of tame honey bees.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2017.

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