ONE is flattered by the attention afforded (to) the under-signed by Mohammad Hanif (May 24) in his comment on my nomination to the 10th NFC: about 20 paragraphs that span six columns of Dawn’s generous hospitality. This response will take only about three brief paragraphs in about half a column — which are probably even more than the comment deserves.

Flattered, yes, but also saddened for the writer. A dose of the writer’s petty envy? Why are there two irrelevant citations of one of my recent books? So much malice masquerading as banal wit. One feels sorry for a prize-winning fiction writer who peppers a comment pretending to be factual — with several fictions, innuendos and misconnections.

Perhaps the most bizarre linkage attempted is by referring to an orphaned children care institution with which one has been associated for the last 38 years — SOS Villages — with missing children in Balochistan.

For a writer who plays to the gallery as a saviour of the province, the most prominent element missing from his text is civility.

Senator (r) Javed Jabbar

Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2020