Dear Auntie,
I am a 35-year-old woman who has been married for seven years. My husband is a lawyer and is not from within the family. The problem is that my parents do not like my husband and never greet him properly. Since my husband has a very bad temper, he has stopped meeting them altogether and now just drops me outside their home without coming in.

The thing is that he’s too sensitive about their attitude and keeps asking me why they act in the manner that they do. I have told him many times that they are just insecure because they are not so financially well off, but he keeps pestering me day and night. I’m mentally and emotionally exhausted and do not know what to do with him. Please help.
Exhausted

‘My Husband and Parents Don’t Get Along’

Dear Exhausted,
Your situation is more common than people like to admit and, honestly, it puts a strain on many marriages. When the people you love refuse to meet each other halfway, the responsibility falls on the person who belongs to both sides.

However, what is truly concerning is the pressure your husband is putting on you by questioning you about your parents’ behaviour. People who are hurt often want explanations for what is happening, but explanations cannot always bring relief. And you cannot keep answering the same question over and over just to calm someone down.

So no, this is not easy. You cannot change your parents’ insecurities and you cannot control your husband’s temper either. But you can change what you are willing to put up with.

To begin with, you should set a firm boundary with your husband. Do it calmly by telling him that while you understand that he feels disrespected, discussing it repeatedly is affecting your mental health and that you cannot keep dissecting it every day. Sometimes people do not realise the toll they are causing until you bring it to their attention. Also, remind him that they are your parents and that you aren’t open to hearing a tirade against them every day.

Moreover, you should stop trying to change the situation for now. If he drops you off at the parents’ house and doesn’t come in, let it be. Some time and distance can help calm egos in ways that arguments cannot. So don’t try to fix it for now. You might want to speak quietly to the parent who is more open to discussing the situation and let them know that this issue is hurting you.

At the end of the day, you should not be responsible for managing and juggling everyone’s egos, especially since all those involved are adults.

Think about where your own limits lie. And talk to yourself honestly. Not as your parents’ daughter or your husband’s wife, but as yourself, and ask how much of this you can continue to absorb before something inside you snaps. And then set limits on what you will put up with and what you won’t.g

Disclaimer: If you or someone you know is in crisis and/or feeling suicidal, please go to your nearest emergency room and seek medical help immediately.

Auntie will not reply privately to any query. Please send concise queries to: auntieagni@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, February 22nd, 2026

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A itchisonia-upon-Chenab, February 22: In a startling new development that has sent waves of huzzahs throughout insane asylums, nothing happened in the Republic of Cliftonia yesterday. Peace prevailed, as it always has, in every nook, corner, niche and alcove of the Republic. In fact, reports coming in from across the nation confirm that even the Republic’s round edges remained bathed in bucketfuls of undiluted peace. 

Last week, 595,629 flowers bloomed in Aitchisonia-upon-Chenab, ushering in the much-awaited spring season. Around 320,450 beautifully-plumed Siberian Bloompanthers — Ciftonia’s national bird — flew and nested in the 927,328 evergreen trees planted by the authorities last Friday, as part of their ‘A Bird In Tree Is Worth Two In The Bush’ campaign.

Speaking to the media, Jimmy Jirga, Minister of Bird-Settling, Cravats and Brunches, said that the arrival of such an unprecedented number of birds augured well for the future of the food industry.

“There has been a deluge of birds to match the tsunami of trees that I had personally planted last month,” he said. “For what is a bird if not nature’s way of supplying us with eggs. And you will be pleased to know that not a single one of our birds has found mention in the X-Files, which have recently been released by the Federal Bureau of the Department of Justice and Central Intelligence. This has proved, yet again, that even our birds are as pure as the driven snow,” he stated.

In the Republic of Cliftonia, peace is permanent, statistics are miraculous and anything missing from official records simply never existed

“Speaking of which, I am pleased to report that our Met Department registered almost two million snowflakes that fell across the length and breadth of Grammaria county, sending snow-starved Grammarians into uncontrollable bouts of delight and delirium. The government played its part in setting up stalls that sold colourful and delicious snow cones, which could be licked, chomped or snorted as per the discretion and mood of the customer,” he added.

“And once again, we are happy to report that none of our snow cones were mentioned in any of the emails that were part of the recently released X-Files.”

According to the Ministry of Chocolate, Caramel and Fine Dining, more than 53,000 high quality chocolate nougats were distributed to children in private schools in the western borough of Mrs. Agha. This distribution was sponsored by a generous Cliftonian tech-billionaire based in the Valley of Silicon.

“Expatriate Cliftonians are undoubtedly the greatest suppositories of our country, for they have a solution for every supposed ailment that afflicts our land. Their wealth, intelligence, qualifications, multiple passports, distance, extremely high (double) standards, and desire to ensure their children study and make a career somewhere as far away from the motherland make them shining exemplars of those seeking the last refuge,” explained Minister Jirga.

“The nougats provided were of stellar quality and satisfied one of the most basic needs of our children. Who but a billionaire can gauge such essential needs? Who but a babydoll robber baron can respond with such alacrity to requirements that are crying out to be met by large-hearted Siliconians? None but them,” he said.

“Let me also tell you that not one of the thousands of nougats delivered found its way into the X-Files, even though their donor did. But then that is the beauty of this wonderful, peaceful universe that we’ve created.”

The ministry also released information on the 3,298 cultural events held over the past few months, which helped reinforce the peace that the world has ceaselessly enjoyed since right after lunch on Wednesday, 23 August, 1142 CE. Ballets, classical music recitals, defence industry exhibitions, literature festivals, sports events, anti-terrorism conferences, food fests, and kidnapping, ransom and home security seminars jostled with each other for attention, as governments across the world celebrated peace and harmony and imposed it on its citizens with an iron foot, as their hand was busy doing other things.

“As a distinguished member of many panels at these events, I can tell you for certain that I was quite nervous at how fragile the peace we have imposed globally on our collective peoples is and how it can be shattered by one unwanted phrase, one misspoken word, one unfunny joke and one broken wind,” said Minister Jirga.

“But fortunately, mankind has learned to live with us and our many moods and better sense has always prevailed. As contemporary history’s greatest sage, St Morrissey sang about us many moons ago: ’Don’t blame/ This sweet and tender hooligan/ Because he’ll never, never, never do it again/ Not until the next time.’ I sincerely believe no truer words have since been spoken.”

Minister Jirga also said that, lest anyone forget, it was imperative to note that not one event, festival, symposium, seminar etc held was mentioned in any of the emails, photographs, videos, secret recordings, locker rooms and islands listed in the X-Files, thereby proving that such files were nothing more than a sinister effort by his mother-in-law to blame him for everything that’s ever happened in Cliftonia’s peaceful little world.

Farid Alvie was born. He currently lives.
He’s on Instagram @faridalvie

Published in Dawn, EOS, February 22nd, 2026

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In February 2025, the National Citizens Party (NCP) was established by the prominent youth leaders of Bangladesh’s so-called ‘Gen-Z Revolution.’ This student-led uprising had terminated Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year authoritarian tenure during the summer of 2024. The primary objective of the party was to transition young leaders into the parliament.

The 2024 uprising comprised a broad coalition of liberals, leftists, Islamists and nationalists. The Bangladesh Jamaat-i-Islami (BJI) emerged as the most organised faction. It had been a primary target of Hasina’s government. The movement against Hasina’s rule was highly iconoclastic, actively attacking symbols associated with the birth of Bangladesh and the role played by Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujeeb, in this birth. He is someone the BJI detests.

When the young leaders of the 2024 uprising decided to formalise their revolution by establishing a political party, the move was immediately met with internal confusion. The NCP’s ranks comprised a volatile mix of progressives, secularists, conservatives and nationalists. Internal debates were often heated but failed to produce a consolidated consensus. Instead, a flimsy foundational statement was tabled, asserting that the party was neither secular nor Islamist.

This was criticised by political analysts as a product of political ambiguity. This lack of clarity became particularly apparent during the drafting of the party’s primary charter. The leadership struggled to reconcile the aspirations of its secular factions with the increasing influence of its Islamist factions. By refusing to define its stance on the role of religion in the state, the party risked becoming a vessel for any organised group capable of mobilising the street. This led to NCP’s controversial alignment with the BJI for the elections.

From Pakistan in 1977 and Iran in 1979 to Egypt in 2011 and Bangladesh in 2026, when loosely organised reformists align with disciplined Islamist forces, the ‘revolution’ rarely ends as they imagine

This represents a classic phenomenon observed across various developing nations, where small progressive groups frequently align themselves with the more organised right-wing forces. Such progressives often operate under the belief that this partnership will provide a viable route into the corridors of power by leveraging the superior organisational machinery of right-wing parties.

However, the historical precedent for such alliances is almost invariably disastrous. In these arrangements, the smaller progressive elements often find themselves ideologically hollowed out or eventually sidelined by their resource-rich right-wing ‘partners’. The NCP’s attempt to harness the mobilising power of the BJI ultimately compromised the youthful party’s reformist identity and led to significant internal fractures.

In the 1977 general elections in Pakistan, and the subsequent anti-Bhutto protest movement, various small secular and progressive parties joined an alliance that was largely led by the country’s three main Islamist parties. The alliance viewed the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto regime as tyrannical. However, the progressives in the alliance frequently found themselves at a loss for words when their Islamist ‘allies’ began advocating for the replacement of Bhutto’s ‘socialist’ policies with a government based on Shariah law.

When the Bhutto regime was toppled in a reactionary military coup, the progressives and secularists in the alliance found themselves in jails or exile, while the Jamaat-i-Islami, a major partner in the alliance, successfully integrated itself into the first cabinet of the new military regime.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 provides another prominent example of this precarious dynamic. In the late 1970s, a broad coalition of secular liberals, leftists and student activists collaborated with religious clerics under Ayatollah Khomeini to overthrow the Shah of Iran.

According to the Iranian-American historian Ervand Abrahamian, middle-class progressives operated under the assumption that, as the “intellectual engines of the uprising”, they would inevitably dictate the shape of the post-revolutionary state. However, once the Shah was ousted, the more organised Islamist factions rapidly consolidated authority. This resulted in a systematic and brutal purge of their former secular and leftist partners.

A similar pattern emerged in Egypt following the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The sociologist Hazem Kandil wrote that the secular and liberal activists who had led the protests lacked a formal political structure to translate their street presence into institutional power. They entered into a tactical partnership with the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Although the Brotherhood won the ensuing elections, the alliance with the progressive youth disintegrated. The progressives felt that the Brotherhood had ‘hijacked’ the revolution to implement a narrow ideological agenda. This internal collapse eventually created the conditions for a military takeover in 2013.

The NCP could only win seven seats in the recent parliamentary elections in Bangladesh. The elections were swept by the centrist Bangladesh National Party (BNP). Critics within the NCP are of the view that its alliance with an Islamist party alienated a significant number of their supporters, who decided to vote for the BNP, which has been a historical opponent of the Awami League.

Progressives/leftists are often effective at articulating grievances and dominating the media narrative during an uprising. Yet, they frequently lack the social machinery required to sustain political power. They employ ‘tactical entryism’, believing that it is more convenient to enter into a partnership with  larger right-wing parties and use their physical and logistical strength to grab a piece of the power pie and gradually steer the government toward reform.

Such moves frequently fail. Right-wing parties are strictly hierarchical and highly disciplined. This makes it easy for them to later purge their more loosely organised progressive ‘allies’. A recent case of ‘entryism’ is visible in the Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz-i-Aaien-i-Pakistan (TTAP), an opposition alliance headed by the right-wing populist Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). It contains a mixture of sectarian outfits, secularists, conservatives and a left-wing group.

The left within this alliance has decided not to view PTI as a right-wing party but as a populist vehicle for ‘democracy’ and, of course, its own entry into a future parliament. There may also be an ambition that they might simply step into the vacuum and replace the PTI that is in such spectacular shambles. After all, what better way to lead the masses than by hijacking a shipwreck, no?

One can only admire the intellectual flexibility required for these activists to rationalise positions that contradict their own stated values, most notably PTI’s steadfast refusal to entertain any meaningful action against Islamist militants. It is a masterclass in moral amnesia.

Meanwhile, the alliance’s more seasoned folk, who are ex-devotees of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), are clearly treating this populist vehicle as an elaborate audition. Their goal isn’t so much to save the soul of the nation as it is to bat their eyelashes at the establishment, hoping to be hand-picked for the lead role in the next state-sanctioned ‘king’s party.’

Ultimately, the whole spectacle offers far more fodder for a dark comedy than it does for any genuine ‘struggle for democracy’ and the ‘sanctity of the constitution.’

Published in Dawn, EOS, February 22nd, 2026

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