The clerics and the warped reactionary mindset empowered by the Zia dictatorship never did go away. The truth is, things in this respect, actually got worse after Zia’s demise in August 1988.

What he left behind was a society, polity, state and governments that discovered how exploiting religion in Pakistan (even in the most cynical and hypocritical manner) can be the harbinger of quick political, social and, on a personal level, economic benefits.

Nobody was interested in the more spiritual aspects of faith.

So, the ‘Ziaist’ legacy lingered on in one shape or the other across the so-called democratic governments of the PPP and the PML-N and even during the Musharraf dictatorship, which posed as ‘moderate’ and ‘enlightened.’

Sometimes, I get exhausted mentioning this over and over again in my columns, so much so that at times, I just want to start writing fiction novels about other beings on other planets.

But I’ve never been a huge fiction fan. As a kid, yes, I enjoyed the usual stuff, but as an adult, apart from Gabriel García Márquez and a few others, not much has interested me. But I remain to be a big science-fiction buff, and still manage to go through a sci-fi novel or two.

As to when did I know I wanted to be a writer, well, I think at school because there were just three things I enjoyed doing there: Sports, a bit of painting and lots of writing. Writing was and still is a rather cathartic experience for me.

My journalist father was the prime influence. Who else?

Hunter S. Thompson, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs when I was in my 20s. Ibn-e-Safi, of course. Also Arthur C. Clarke and Gabriel García Márquez.

But the real inspiration has come from scholars and writers whose writings have helped shape my understanding of history, politics and religion. People like Ayesha Jalal, Dr. Mubarek Ali, Patricia Crone, K K Aziz and a few others.

And no, I’ve never been much of a Chomsky fan.

From being a political reporter and then a music critic in the 1990s, I have evolved into becoming - what Dawn newspaper (my main base of operations for a decade now) - labelled (for me) - a ‘cultural critic’ and a satirist too.

I enjoy being both, even though satire comes more easily to me than doing those lengthy socio-political pieces that I bombard poor Dawn.com with because the latter requires a lot of painstaking work.

I say this because there are always many sides and versions of what are peddled as history in Pakistan. So one has to be careful about putting down something and then explain that something to be fact.

Writing historical pieces is tricky business in a country like Pakistan where whole generations have grown up stuffed with myths and distortions.

Writing satire is easier because many popular folk in Pakistan eventually end up becoming and sounding like unintentional parodies of themselves.

But I do not satirise them by putting myself on some higher moral or intellectual ground, because I also satirise myself. When I’m doing a satirical piece, I feel I am also satirising myself as a writer, or an image of myself that some readers have cultivated in their minds.