Let’s not mince words: the three Pakistani-American doctors—Dr. Malik Usman, Dr. Saira Bilal, and Dr. Muhammed Munir—who pranced into Pindi to parley with DG ISI Asim Malik have done more harm than a monsoon in a slum. Their earnest but dangerously naive attempt to secure Imran Khan’s release and prod Pakistan toward democracy has instead exposed fissures within the diaspora and, more damningly, at the heart of PTI’s U.S. leadership—epitomized by the hapless Atif Khan. They ignored a brutal truth of power, whether in warfare or politics: nothing is achieved without an almost irrational level of implacability. By sitting across the table without grasping the deviousness of their adversary, these highly educated fools not only undermined their credibility but could have harmed the cause and handed the Pakistan Army a golden opportunity to tighten its chokehold.
The Pakistani American team which met DG ISI, Asim.Malik on Saturday and Sunday, 15 March and 16 March, 2025, in DG ISI’s house. The DG ISI was assisted by another Maj. Gen of the ISI.
1. Dr. Malik Usman of @FirstPakGlobal . The person behind the efforts to harness power of US… pic.twitter.com/3Yf9FWS1KN
— Haider Mehdi (@SHaiderRMehdi) March 29, 2025
The facts are an indictment. On the Ides of March, this trio, part of a five-person delegation, met the DG ISI in his lair, hoping to broker Khan’s release and a democratic transition. They were joined by Tanweer Ahmed, a Houston businessman with ties to Pakistan’s establishment—a neon warning sign they blithely ignored. The ISI chief dangled a poisoned carrot: give us 30-35 days to release Khan and PTI workers if you ease diaspora pressure on the military junta and stall the Pakistan Democracy Act (PDA) in the U.S. Congress. The doctors, earnest as schoolboys, nibbled at the first part but claimed little sway over the PDA. The army’s response? A fresh wave of arrests—journalists, PTI workers, anyone who so much as breathed dissent. The doctors were duped, the diaspora fractured, and Atif Khan’s leadership exposed as flimsy as a paper kite in a storm.
This wasn’t just a tactical misstep; it was a strategic blunder. History and game theory scream a lesson PTI refuses to learn: implacability—unyielding resolve—is often the only way to force a ruthless opponent to blink. Consider Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711 AD, who burned his ships upon landing in Hispania, leaving his army no choice but to fight or perish. In game theory, this is a commitment strategy: by eliminating retreat, Tariq maximized his troops’ resolve while signaling to the Visigoths that he would accept nothing less than victory. The result? A decisive win that ushered in centuries of Moorish rule in Spain. Contrast this with the doctors’ approach: they signaled weakness, not strength, by eagerly engaging an enemy holding Khan hostage and democracy prisoner. The army, sensing their desperation, exploited it to buy time and sow discord.
PTI’s broader leadership is equally culpable. Their repeated willingness to negotiate with Asim Munir’s junta—despite a track record of broken promises—betrays a baffling inability to assume the worst of their adversary. History offers lacerating warnings. The Melian Dialogue during the Peloponnesian War is a brutal case: Melos assumed Athens would honor its neutrality, only to be massacred when Athens chose might over mercy. Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 appeasement of Hitler—handing over the Sudetenland in hopes of peace—only emboldened the dictator, leading to Poland’s invasion a year later. In game theory, this mirrors the Grim Trigger Strategy: if an opponent defects once, assume they will defect forever. The Pakistan Army has defected endlessly—arresting PTI workers, rigging elections, imprisoning Khan—yet PTI’s leadership, as if drawn to the flame of their own destruction, keeps returning to the table, hoping for good faith where only betrayal festers.
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The doctors’ ill-fated trip risked delaying the PDA, a congressional bill meant to pressure Pakistan into democratic reforms. While the army’s ploy was exposed early and the PDA continued its progress through Congress, nevertheless damage was done: PTI’s U.S. leadership and diaspora now stand exposed as brittle, their resolve as sturdy as a house of cards. Negotiating without leverage risked handing the army a propaganda coup—an illusion of dialogue while it tightened its grip. Mehlaqa Samdani, director at Community Alliance for Peace and Justice, called this “deeply problematic and unethical,” noting that negotiating with Khan’s captors without his consent erodes his agency. She rightly asked how Khan’s supporters could stomach an outcome where the army still pulls his strings post-release—a question Atif Khan seems too timid to confront.
PTI and the Pakistani-American diaspora need a cold slap of realism. Assume the worst of the enemy. The Pakistan Army isn’t a negotiating partner; it’s a self-interested, opportunistic predator. Survival hinges on expecting betrayal, not banking on goodwill. PTI must embrace a commitment strategy—signal they will shun talks until the army frees Khan and relinquishes control, no matter the cost. By altering the payoff matrix, as Tariq did, they can force the army to face a binary choice: yield or face unrelenting pressure. Their current path—endless talks, zero backbone—only emboldens the junta.
These doctors, with Atif Khan’s feeble blessing, have managed only to wound their own pride—while not jeopardizing much Pakistan’s democratic struggle. But it could have been otherwise. They have shown the army can toy with and manipulate them through hollow promises. If Khan is to be freed, if democracy is to dawn, PTI and its supporters must learn to walk away from the table—and stay away—until the army knows it has no choice but to bend. Anything less is a betrayal of the cause.
Unlike the three idiots in the Bollywood classic starring Aamir Khan, these doctors have not shown guile but instead played the fool. But the stakes here are far graver than college pranks. Pakistan’s future hangs in the balance, and naivety is a luxury it cannot afford.
Miyamoto Musashi carves through the chaos of markets and power, wielding a pen as sharp as his blade. A veteran of the financial dueling grounds—decades spent as an I-banker and pol. strategist—he now stalks the shadows of economics and governance, exposing cowardice and cutting down complacency.