Much Ado About Khalid and Jamal
There are quite a few differences between Khalid and Jamal. Jamal, a Pashtun, and his brother Khalid, who are Persian, came from similar middle class families. They both grew up in a household that kept them busy learning about geography, literature, science, and other subjects. After the war, Khaled went to university and later got married.
Khalid spent time studying in America, and later moved back to Pakistan. He wrote to his brother to see how he was doing and told him about the times he was out of the country. He said his hostel had a pool which he liked to play in, but later a sports car showed up at his home. He told his brother that he felt jealous and tried to hide it by ordering that the pool be stopped.
It was at this time that Khuja got a call from his friend, a girl whom he had met in college. A school friend, they had gone to the same college, had been shot dead at a bus stop. At the time, there were a lot of university students who had their heads shaved by the Taliban. His friend was also a descendant of one of the seven families that had been barred from the city by the British during the first partition. The two boys met each other and fell in love.
Khuja was living in California when he heard of this story. It was not long before he too, also decided to join the fight against the Taliban.
They returned to California and joined the organization, but they were far from the Taliban. Although Khuja had some tribal support and the upper hand over Khalid, the two brothers still ended up as adversaries.
Their mother knew that both brothers wanted to marry the same girl, but she discouraged Khuja and encouraged her sons to go on with their respective plans. It was only after Khuja and his friend returned to Pakistan that they discovered that the girl had been killed.
At this point, Khuja made a deal with old friends. If he killed his brother, he would get his mother’s love and make the most of it. Later he returned to the house where his father was being held and killed his brother with his friend’s help.
After Khuja had killed Khalid, he too turned against the Taliban. Unfortunately, Khuja went a bit further than his brother, as he managed to escape to Dubai. The situation remains difficult today, despite the fact that they have been trained to respect democracy. I am pretty sure, you will not like the news coming from Pakistan or Dubai about how the residents of Karachi and Peshawar were the only ones who did not surrender during a second attempt by the Taliban to seize control of the country.
