Thursday, November 15, 2012

In the heat it pricks like crazy and they all go mad and fight like hell--bronze

And Farooq, 'You think there'll be war?' Ayooba snorts. 'What else? How not a war? Hasn't Bhutto sahib promised every peasant one acre of land? So where it'll come from? For so much soil, we must conquer Punjab and Bengal! Just wait only; after the election, when People's Party has won - then Ka-pow! Ka-blooey!'
Farooq is troubled: 'Those Indians have Sikh troops, man. With so-long beards and hair, in the heat it pricks like crazy and they all go mad and fight like hell ...!'
Ayooba gurgles with amusement. 'Vegetarians, I swear, yaar ... how are they going to beat beefy types like us?' But Farooq is long and stringy.
Shaheed Dar whispers, 'But what did he mean: man-dog?' ... Morning. In a hut with a blackboard, Brigadier Iskandar polishes knuckles on lapels while one Sgt-Mjr Najmuddin briefs new recruits. Question-and-answer format; Najmuddin provides both queries and replies. No interruptions are to be tolerated. While above the blackboard the garlanded portraits of President Yahya and Mutasim the Martyr stare sternly down. And through the (closed) windows, the persistent barking of dogs... Najmuddin's inquiries and responses are also barked. What are you here for? - Training. In what field? - Pursuit-and-capture. How will you work? - In canine units of three persons and one dog. What unusual features? - Absence of officer personnel, necessity of taking own decisions, concomitant requirement for high Islamic sense of self-discipline and responsibility.
Purpose of units? - To root out undesirable elements. Nature of such elements? - Sneaky, well-disguised, could-be-anyone. Known intentions of same? - To be abhorred: destruction of family life, murder of God, expropriation of landowners, abolition of film-censorship. To what ends? - Annihilation of the State, anarchy, foreign domination. Accentuating causes of concern? - Forthcoming elections; and subsequently, civilian rule. (Political prisoners have been are being freed. All types of hooligans are abroad.) Precise duties of units? -To obey unquestioningly; to seek unflaggingly; to arrest remorselessly.
Mode of procedure? - Covert; efficient; quick. Legal basis of such detentions? - Defence of Pakistan Rules, permitting the pick-up of undesirables, who may be held incommunicado for a period of six months. Footnote: a renewable period of six months. Any questions? - No. Good. You are CUTIA Unit 22. She-dog badges will be sewn to lapels. The acronym CUTIA, of course, means bitch.
And the man-dog?

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