In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” Polonius begins his advice to his son Laertus with the following words: “Give thy thoughts no tongue, nor any unproportion’d thought his act.”

One only wishes that the managers of the Syndicate had a Polonius to guide them. Perhaps General Asif Nawaz Janjua would fit the bill. But then, the Geniuses have already imprisoned his granddaughter. If he were alive, what they would do to him is anybody’s guess.

Anyway, the concern today is the Formation Commanders Conference held yesterday at the GHQ. I wanted to comment on the ISPR press release. But it is so full of lies — and sounds so much like a declaration of war against the nation — that I’d rather not comment.

The one obvious truth I found there is actually a Freudian slip. In quoting the COAS, the press release stated: “People of Pakistan and their deep bondage with the Armed Forces is and will remain central to all our undertakings ….”

Indeed, the “bondage” of the Pakistani nation seems undeniable at this time. Kindly allow me to translate the above sentence into idiomatic Urdu:

“پاکستانی قوم کی غلامی مسلّح افواج کا مرکزی مقصد ہے اور رہے گا ۔۔۔”

Alas, truth finds a strange path to its disclosure.

I do recommend that you read the press release carefully and evaluate not just the Syndicate’s frame of mind but also what’s going on (within the army) behind the curtain:

https://ispr.gov.pk/press-release-detail?id=6553

Note: I checked the dictionary to make sure I was correctly interpreting the word “bondage.” Merriam-Webster provides the following two senses:

1. Servility, servitude, serfdom, captivity, subjugation, etc.
2. Sadomasochistic sexual practices.

Incidentally, evidence over the past year alone indicates that the press release used the word “bondage” correctly in both the senses.