Riaz Khan is a Karachi-based chowkidaar/driver from Shangla Distric, Swat.

Dear Pakistan,

If there is heaven on earth then it is in you. Fortunately for me I belong to that heaven, but all is not well there. I came to Karachi for a job eight years ago, to earn well and help my family back in Swat. If things were better there, I wouldn’t have had to leave in the first place. So Pakistan, please be good again. Control the inflation that has essentially destroyed everyone’s lives. Your current President Zardari should step down and let some good man, like Imran Khan take charge. I do not say this because I am a Pathan, but this is a man who has not been tried and tested and I believe things would be different under him. Ultimately, for an ordinary man like me, and millions others like me, I only ask for peace, patience and tolerance that would enable us to go back to the Pakistani heaven that once was, where we could live without any fear of the Taliban or the military.

These letters were originally published in the August issue of Newsline.