Recently I have been having too many strange dreams. This could be due to incessant night time load shedding that wakes me up, after which if I do get back to sleep it is a fitful sleep. Or this could all just be due to a feeling that nobody is really running this poor country. But then I have a sneaking suspicion that all the killings going on in Pakistan these days are seeping into my unconscious mind and making my dreams more morose and even more frightful than ever before. As an opinion writer I do have to read much of what other opinion writers are writing and sadly none of what I read these days makes me feel any better. Yes there are libations that ‘dull the pain’ but then they also disturb the ‘rapid eye movement’ (REM) sleep cycle when dreams occur. So now that I have laid out the possible background reasons for the profusion of disturbing dreams, perhaps I should share the most recent one that I had. Before I go on to the particular dream/nightmare though, I would like to dwell upon a few observations. A little bit of suspense is definitely called for at this pregnant juncture. It does seem that nobody is actually running this country, most of all as far as ‘law and order’ are concerned. The Punjab Police showed its utter commitment to maintaining ‘order’ when it ignored the brutal murder of a pregnant women right next to the centre of ‘law’ with a multitude of ‘lawyers’ watching the ‘grand show’. That is the state of law and order in Punjab. Not much to write home or anywhere else about. Clearly the only purpose the Punjab Police has is to protect the lives of the VVIPs. The more ‘vees’ they merit, the more protection they need. From what? Perhaps from their personal demons. Allah knows best. And that demands another observation. The Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab has ordained that the Punjab Police will have a ‘Dolphin Squad’ like the Turks (what is with this love fest by the CM for all things Turkish?). Obviously this squad will require the import of a large number of very ‘special’ motorcycles (thousands?) and that will clearly make much money for somebody. Anybody remember what happened to the recent taxicab imports? Nobody talks about them anymore. I wonder why? What worries me most about the ‘Dolphin Squad’ is that after all we live in the land of the Indus and our national river mammal is the Indus Blind Dolphin. So my fear is that we will import many thousands of motorbikes and other paraphernalia for our ‘Dolphin’ police force but it will be run by the ‘blind dolphins’ of the Punjab Police. These particular police dolphins will only be able to see the shine of ‘filthy lucre’ or people they need to grovel in front of for better postings. It is of course quite possible that our Indus Dolphins even though they might be blind are probably bestowed with greater intelligence by our ‘maker’ than most members of the Punjab Police and their political handlers. And who says that people need to be protected, from what, and why cannot they do it themselves anyway. As we all know this is a free country and people are free to do what they want to. More importantly, is that not what privatisation is all about? And a slight digression leading to an examination of the progressively evolving ‘Turkish model’ that our local lords and masters desperately want to emulate. Democracy becomes oligarchy and then becomes crony capitalism and in its ultimate iteration becomes kleptocracy, and all in the name of Islam. Brilliant! The other reason for my nightmares is that I have this persistent feeling that nobody is actually running this country. It reminds me of the ill-fated Malaysian airliner that evidently went on ‘autopilot’ and eventually crashed into the Indian Ocean when it ran out of fuel. So, is that the fate of our country? Will we all wake up one day and find out that overnight our ‘leaders/pilots’ have bailed out and the country is on autopilot waiting to crash into some place in the middle of nowhere while our ‘leaders’ are sitting in their palaces in Dubai or London living it up? The fact that they all have done that in the past at some time or the other makes such a nightmarish possibility rather probable. Now to the latest nightmare I had. Thanks dear readers for hanging around if you did. In this nightmare I saw an older person with a long white beard that sort of reminded of what Imran Khan might look if he grew a beard and stopped dyeing his hair jet black (though the voice coming out of the mouth of this vision strangely was that of President Obama). The overall effect I must admit was quite intimidating. This ‘vision’ said to me: “O puny mortal, go tell Sharif that he will be out by the end of this year.” With great temerity I replied, “O wise one, why don’t you tell him yourself, he will not listen to me.” At this the vision said with some anger, yes he will for I have so ordained. As I demurred, the vision started to berate me for my recalcitrance. In my fearful state I did not even have the courage to ask the vision which ‘Sharif’ he meant. However I did start waking up because the lights had just gone out and even though the UPS kicked in, the air conditioner was now off. Soon the mullahs in all the all seven mosques in the neighbourhood turned their loudspeakers on full blast to call the faithful for the morning prayers. That woke me up completely and the holy words being said made the frightful vision disappear. Saved by the Mullahs! The writer has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com