As a Pakistani nation, we suffer from a severe identity crisis, We don't own our people but love to hear the stories of saviours invading subcontinent to bless us with Islam
We love carving out new idols, every few yrs or so from Muhammad bin Qasim, Yousaf bin Tashfin to General's pet called Zorro and now Ertugrul Gazi. we've definitely come far.
Don't get me wrong, I've watched all the seasons of Ertugrul and thoroughly enjoyed the cinematography, story twists, characterization and it was kind of Halal-ish replacement to Game of Thrones.
But I watched as work of fiction which 'revolved' around a bit of history the way you'd watch any season on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
It's in so many ways so similar to work of fiction by well-known writer of Naseem Hijazi.
Naseem Hijazi was a Pakistani writer who really mastered the art of Historical fiction and it was sold to the masses as being gospel, I remember a relative recommended me his books during my teenage stating it's Islamic history.
In stock of my school Library, Naseem Hijazi was definitely the most read author during my teenage, You could never find any book in stock it to borrow.
Truth is much stranger than fiction itself but when you mix it up with a blend of religious spices, let it simmer on the heat of young blood top it up with some prophecies, then BOOM.
You have a mindless robot willing to blow himself up anywhere for the sake of a purpose that's larger than life.
This was what the majority of Hijazi's work was like - We all like to dwell in past and tell our kids stories about the time gone and every Nation does it. However Pakistani Hybrid regime definitely has mastered the art to some extent.
Muhammad Bin Qasim, Khaak Aur Khoon, Aakhri Maarka (The last battle of Somnath), Aur Talwar Toot Gayi were absolute masterpieces in the genre of "Historical fiction" for Urdu readers.
Much of Hijazi's work was dramatised in Pakistan and a whole generation was born with a mind-set that paved the way for socially awkward boys to fantasize about characters similar to "Halime Sultan" and wanting to wage jihad against evil forces of West.
It all fitted in very well with the backdrop of the Afghan-Soviet war, timing was crucial.
But as Pakistanis, we love living in new delusions and fantasies every now n then.
Also, it was well-timed too as many "5thiye" (5th Gen warfare Twitterati trolls) just recovering from Ehd-e-Wafaa now have their newfound love Ertugrul.
After airing of Ertugrul season, majority Pakistani believe that Erdogan is the reincarnation of Ertugrul and all it takes is a bit of Youtube search to see many videos of pseudo-anchors and media analysts turned historians talking about prophecies how Erdogan shall rise and 2023 is the year Turkey will take back control of Hijaz.
Whether its Mubashir Luqman, Sabir Shakir or official Mullah Maulana Tariq Jamil everyone is portraying launch of Ertugrul as Turk-Pak alliance of some sort which will bring back the glorious days of past.
They don't just stop there - there's been memes/videos in circulation comparing the dissenting intellectuals/community with negative characters of Ertugrul and calling for them to be beheaded in same fashion how Ertugrul handled the betrayal.
Literally free for all business, ranging from Ertugrul and antichrist being linked to Ghazwa Hind, Erdogan being Ertugrul of the time and Pak-Turk alliance (which is non-existent and recent fiasco of Imran Khan bending over backwards to fall into the lap of MBS) touching new horizons in 2023!
In a nutshell, I'm rather sad to see the Hybrid regime of Pakistan turning a Turkish historical fictional saga of Ertugrul into a full-blown propaganda indoctrination tool for which I can only thank #Selectors as surely Imran Khan Niazi or his team wouldn't have had half the brain to come up with such stunt.
A hero or not but I'm sure Ertugrul never dreamt that his character or legacy would be used by Pakistani regime to try and cover up the failures thousands of kilometres away from his homeland.
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