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Islamabad Diary

A TÊTE-À-TÊTE DESIRED!

Unfortunately, we are neither accustomed to a dialogue in our national milieu nor to the phenomenon of agreeing to disagree

By Ishtiaq Ali Mehkri | February 2026


Islamabad is experiencing an ecological shift. It’s environmental degradation this time. Around 29,000 trees have fallen, and many now dub the capital to be the ‘New Cholistan’ of Potohar! This madness in urbanization is an existential threat and is bizarrely ad hoc. The once lush-green federal capital is rapidly turning into a barren housing society. The ecosystem, as far as politics is concerned, is in a state of flux, with the Adiala inmate sitting pretty cool to take a call, as and when desired. The approaching February 8 can be a game-changer, and street mobilization on his advice is gathering momentum.

Getting nostalgic, the Captain used to make spinners Abdul Qadir and Mushtaq Ahmed at times bowl in adversity. They often churned wonders. Chief Minister Sohail Afridi too bowled well on a tricky wicket in Sindh, and was successful in rallying Karachiites. That episode of leading from the front has opened vistas for a ‘tête-à-tête’ with the powers-that-be, and one hopes it will not snag.

A word of praise for the ‘Sayeen Sarkar’ as it exhibited political largesse, unlike Jati Umrah’s viciousness. Notwithstanding the slip between the cup and lip as Afridi’s entourage got lost in the darkness of the highway. A tailor-made detour to assert power politics, though. A way was found in reconciliation to have a happy ending at Quaid’s mausoleum. Murad Ali Shah wrote a chapter in rapprochement and, likewise, the magnanimity from Nasir Hussain Shah to ‘apologise’ for the hiccups to the high-profile guest saved the metropolitan, with a Peshawar in its suburbs, from ethnic revulsion.

Pundits say veteran Zardari was the architect of this carrot-and-stick show. Bilawal, a fortnight ago, at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto, had opined tongue-in-cheek that his versatile father and President of the Republic can swing reconciliation, if need be! That was a checkmate for PML-N, which all and sundry say has lost its political currency and is a recurring liability for men in robes. The Zardaris’ have shown the way to exit from a lingering bewilderment by discreetly offering to talk it out.


Unfortunately, we are neither accustomed to a dialogue in our national milieu nor to the phenomenon of agreeing to disagree. That is why we have tales of missed opportunities, sorrows, and tragedies. The genesis of the Pakistani nation, however, is pro-defiance, and they have always stood with those who took a stance against odds in national interests.

Hussain Shaheed Suharwardy, Fatima Jinnah, Mujibur-Rehman, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and now the incarcerated Imran Khan were not infallibles, as they all had their share of laxities, but are national heroes. They are eulogised, despite being recalcitrant. Today, nothing is more important than a national dialogue; one that is led by the political politburos for erecting a renewed civil authority and restoring the 1973 Constitution.

The crosscurrents are favourable. The state-centric NDC of Fawad Chaudhry, playing Goebbels, and the TTAP of Achakzai and Allama Nasir have a common denominator: release of political prisoners and a new social contract—enough of meat to cook a unanimous recipe. A leaf from Thucydides, an Athenian historian and General, is worth subscribing: let the troika of Afridi, Achakzai, and Allama meet the caged Hercules, and result in a show of ‘Aces’ with gleam. The Establishment’s nod will surely result in a thaw! But the gambit is that none should blink.

John F. Kennedy believed, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” We missed the bus for Akbar Bugti, Altaf Hussain, the PTM, and Mahrang in our recent history, and are in distress psychologically. Time to overcome the self-inflicted wounds by encouraging parleys with all those on either side of rationality and dissent.

POSTSCRIPT: The Federal Constitutional Court is ill-advised to take up slain journalist Arshad Sharif’s case. That is not its jurisdiction. The suo motu warrants a detailed probe and an appellate hearing in all judiciousness, and not a summary wrap-up. With justice not in sight, Arshad’s family and admirers will have to wait for a new dawn.

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