The Three Pillars Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

Malak, Maloo and Poltical.
The three pillars, hitherto known to the self-proclaimed,
Inheritor of the status-quoist, British colonial genius.
Karl Max had wished for India to be thoroughly exploited -
The three pillars make the pivot, hundred years ago,
And when he was sitting in the mansion, thirty years ago.

Nothing has changed, this self-disciplined, self-educated
Man of letters proclaims. He also happened to be an ambassador,
The Excellency still believes in three pillars, while, the roof
Stands toppled, held by a multitude of crutches,
And those who have learned like him also seethe world.

The fourth and the fifth columns, have grown, Excellency
You are sitting in ’Elephant’s ear’, of your glory days.
There is the ‘tor maloo’, having his four sons killed as suicide bombers,
And the fifth preparing. The ‘malak’ pockets the salaries of teachers,
Of a girl’s school, awarded to him in his backyard. ‘Poltical’, persona non exista-
The Senator sells transformers, doctors medicine, and a colonel has named after
Himself a road-crossing, and another Excellency, the bazaar, after
Himself. The people’s representative in the assembly, a laughing lot.

There are other columnists, Excellency, which you might
Not be knowing, who have taken upon themselves the great
Responsibility of enlightening the masses, of breaking the taboos,
Of being known and praised, of being the saviors, holding
Multiple sacks, not leaving any, not even the black dollar.

There Excellency, are thousands of youth, university educated,
The strongest pillar, the bigger force, -with greater awareness,
Than you might anticipate, a rising class, -politically conscious.

Since you believe that you know English,
And English mannerism, since you know ‘monologues, from
Waziristan to Washington, and since you have authored a book,
Called from drones to thistle, or the other way round. Since
You are an authority and since your status quo is antiquated.
Since your book is adorned with a photograph
Of the then President with Jacqueline Kennedy, the glamorous,
And since you are unaware, and since you sit on high rise
Academic chairs, Excellency, and since you have not traveled,
Not, so distant. And since on my domicile, I hold your
Esteemed signature as autograph, though eaten by termites.

-On an interview by renowned scholar, civil servant, and author of The Thistle and the Drone, Dr Akbar S. Ahmad, to a news channel.

Sadiqullah Khan
Islamabad
February 6,2014.

Akbar S. Ahmad on The Thistle and the Drone @ maxredefault.jpg