Usman Fasih

Blekh

[Jemima Goldsmith @Jemima_Khan]

The Defence Minister is right. It’s why I have never been considered Jewish by the Jewish community. My mother was a Church of England Protestant. And by this logic, my father was not Jewish either. His mother was a French Catholic. As ever, in attempting to undermine my sons, Pakistan’s Defence Minister has scored an embarrassing own goal.

[Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal]

@_AhmedQuraishi This you?

[Haramous Extremous @HExtremous1]

Fuck intent, fuck aggression, fuck technique. The only thing you need in cricket are nerves of steel and a mighty pair of balls filled with sulphuric acid.

[Hussain Nadim @HNadim87]

The Road to Peace in the Middle East Runs Through an 8x6 Prison Cell in Rawalpindi

There is a reason the peace process in the Middle East is dysfunctional and the war is expanding. It is not for lack of diplomacy. There are too many meetings, envoys, luxury jets and backchannel conversations.

What is missing is trust and credibility.

When the actors involved have credibility, political legitimacy and genuine intent, peace processes work very differently.

The road to peace in the Middle East may go through an 8 by 6 prison cell in Rawalpindi, where Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, is incarcerated by the current military regime.

But why Imran Khan? And why does the world need him more than ever today?

The short answer is trust and credibility across the warring parties, both in the US-Iran conflict and the larger conflict in the Middle East.

The long answer is the role he played in ending the long US war in Afghanistan.

The Afghan war did not end on its own. Imran Khan played a critical role in helping the United States find a diplomatic pathway out of a war that had lasted almost two decades. For 20 years, his anti-war position and push for political dialogue got him labeled by his detractors as “Taliban Khan,” but ultimately it was his argument for a negotiated settlement that prevailed and helped end the war.

For those who have already forgotten, here is the timeline.

18 August 2018: Imran Khan becomes Prime Minister.

3 December 2018: President Trump writes to Khan seeking Pakistan's support and facilitation for a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan.

22 July 2019: Khan meets Trump at the White House. Sitting beside him, Trump says Pakistan is helping the United States “extricate ourselves” from Afghanistan.

29 February 2020: The Doha Agreement is signed, establishing the framework for the withdrawal of US forces.

30 August 2021: The United States completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

There was no pomp and show. No endless back and forth on luxury jets. No self-nominations for a Nobel Prize. No attempt to turn every diplomatic meeting into a personal victory. Instead, Pakistan's civilian and military machinery worked professionally and discreetly under an elected Prime Minister toward an outcome that had seemed impossible for years.

That is the lesson for the Middle East today.

The region has plenty of powerful men. What it lacks are credible leaders who can walk into different rooms and still be trusted. Someone who can speak to Washington without being seen as Washington's man. Someone who can speak to the Gulf monarchies while retaining credibility with ordinary people across the Muslim world. And someone who can talk to Iran without arriving as an emissary of its enemies.

But most importantly, someone with enough political legitimacy back home that peace does not look like another transaction between unpopular regimes.

This is where Imran Khan becomes uniquely relevant. His global stature and personal relationships with Trump and MBS on one hand, and the Iranians, Qataris and Turks on the other, combined with his enormous popularity across the Muslim world, give him a rare ability to speak across the divides that define the current conflict.

It does not mean he can magically end the wars, but he is definitely the most honest channel for peace, who is not in it for himself. Becuase mediation ultimately depends on the mediator. And those mediating peace abroad at the moment hardly have the credibility to mediate peace back in their own homes.

The world is fast descending into another great war because it lacks credible, high-trust leadership. And one of the few leaders with the trust, credibility, intent and experience to play a pivotal role in peace is caged in an 8 by 6 prison cell in Rawalpindi.

Sometimes the road to peace begins in the most unlikely place.

[Djuney @juneymb]

The community note.

[sh @jafribois]

i aint ever see a woman w this haircut stand on the wrong side of history

[Hussain Nadim @HNadim87]

She single-handedly takes down the entire ISPR narrative on “Fitna al-Hindustan” and “Fitna al-Khawarij” with the sheer stupidity of her racism.

The only thing more dangerous than a military dictatorship is a military dictatorship allied with nepotistic political dynasts who have never worked a day in their lives before landing gigs as Chief Ministers and Foreign Ministers.

[Pat Cummins @patcummins30]

Adding my support here to GC and the other former international captains. I hope the court ordered medical assessment be allowed to run its course, and that family visits continue. I hope Imran Khan is treated with the dignity anyone deserves

[Usman Fasih @Usman_Faseih]

Saari investment se is bharway ne English ke course kar liye

[Habibullah Khan @Huk06]

@captain_paknxt We are doing much better on investment side. We should average a billion FDI a month next year. I’m actually going to do a thread soon

[Atiq Flamboyant @etza07]

The cricketers Imran Khan played against have shown more integrity than those with whom he shared a dressing room.

[Arslan Baloch @balochi5252]

سابق انگلش کپتان مائیکل ایتھرٹن نے لائیو۔ ایک بار پھر عمران خان کے ساتھ ساتھ کئے جانے والے سلوک پر آواز اٹھا دی۔

[ANI @ANI]

#WATCH | Delhi: On the international cricket captains' letter to the Pakistan government regarding Imran Khan's health and well-being, former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev says, "...I like to support our friend whom we played with and admired for his cricketing skill. We don't know the law of the country; that's fine. But humanity and simply giving facilities to a prisoner, whoever it may be, and he was the former Prime Minister of the country and a top cricketer of the world, we want him to get the best treatment as we are asking for. We are not asking for anything else... When you request, you are not asking for a reply..."

[Vikrant Gupta @vikrantgupta73]

BREAKING NEWS: 22 Former international cricket captains have once again written a letter to Pakistan PM over the treatment for Imran Khan. They first wrote a similar letter in February and this one comes after Pak allegedly didn’t completely comply with SC directions.
They have laid down 3 demands:
1. That the medical board directed by the Supreme Court — including Mr Khan's own doctors — be permitted to complete a full and independent assessment of his health, particularly the reported loss of vision in his right eye.
2. That the weekly family visits reinstated by the Court be honoured without interruption or administrative delay.
3. That whatever the outcome of that medical assessment, the treatment recommended by it be provided without delay.

Three Indians - Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar are among the 22 former captains.
#ImranKhan

[Azhar Khan Aasifzai @AasifzaiAzhar]

میں نے کلثوم نواز کو پھول بھجوائے ہیں۔ میں ان کے لیے دعا گو ہوں، اگر کوئی یہ کہہ رہا ہے ان کی بیماری کو نواز شریف سیاسی وینٹیلیٹر کے طور پر استعمال کررہے ہیں تو میں اس کی مذمت کرتا ہوں،

عمران خان کا کلثوم نواز کی بیماری کے وقت دیا گیا بیان

[Awara Rooh @iv1cky]

انڈینز کو لگتا ہے کہ انہوں نے انڈینز کی وجہ سے رپلائی بند کئیے ہیں 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[W.E.B. DaBoi @Tyre_94]

Not really sure how we explain to later generations how there was a highly televised ethnic cleansing in 4K

[xendi @Xendi0]

Please stay until he reveals the country I’m so fucking sorry this is too funny

[Usman Fasih @Usman_Faseih]

Long Live Imran Khan
Long Live Pakistan

[Imran Khan @ImranKhanPTI]

Never have such crowds come out so spontaneously and in such numbers in our history, rejecting the imported govt led by crooks.

[عبداللہ @Blahhhhhh34]

Mian saab ky jesy halaat hain, mamlaat haath mai leny sy kuch nai hoga mou mai ly ky dekhen

[Hussain Nadim @HNadim87]

The joke that started with SIFC, $100 billion IT exports, Cryptos, Data Centers, and Uraan Pakistans, have finally settled down with and admission of State Collapse.

Some journey, entirely predictable though.