The quandary of Mohammad Amir's second innings

Somewhere in Pakistan, someone is confused about the Mohammad Amir drama. This someone is a shocked Pakhtun after seeing and hearing different views and opinions about the return of Amir.

The Pakhtun wakes up in the morning, offers his prayers, eats his breakfast, wears the cultural Chitrali hat and shawl, and also puts the traditional sandals on. He goes for a walk in the dense winter fog early in the morning and thinks to himself, 'why do they want Amir back?'

The confused man doesn't find an answer to the question and keeps on walking. Then he asks himself, 'why don't they want Amir back? Well, he has brought shame to our country, our beloved homeland. There are enough reasons not to want him back to play for Pakistan and yet the majority wants him,' he thinks to himself, his bemusement increasing.

By this time, the Pakhtun has reached his rice fields, where a spectacular thought comes to his mind. The Pakhtun says to himself, "they want him back because they want to show they have forgiven him and want to give him another chance."

While on his way back to his house, the fog lightened and the sun produced the winter's warming heat. He thinks to himself, "Isn't allowing him back to live in Pakistan already a gesture of forgiving him? After all that he has done, allowing him to live in his country is big already that we have done. Then why do they want to forgive him again?"

Just as he reaches his home, he sits on the charpayi (traditional bed in villages). He continues to wonder why Pakistan wants Amir back. He arrives at a conclusion that Shahid Afridi is going to retire soon. The great Imran Khan was a cricketer that came ages ago and went away from the game by making his country very proud. The days of Waqar and Wasim are long gone and the Inzamams, Saeed Anwars and Mohammad Yousufs were no longer playing for Pakistan. Javed Miandad and Saqlain Mushtaq were also long ago. Younis and Misbah are also only playing Test cricket and are on the verge of retirement. He says to himself, "they don't want Amir, they need him. Pakistan needs a cricketing hero once again for the coming generation and they all know, inside their hearts, that despite whatever Amir has done, he is the only one who can become their hero."

The Pakhtun takes off the shawl, chitrali hat and the traditional sandals. He drags a charpayi towards the area in his house where the sun is shining and just lays there and closes his eyes, "yes, that is the reason they want him back."

They know he is the one who can give them reasons to smile in the coming years.