THEY came to Islamabad. The diplomats, the delegations, the foreign press. They came to broker talks between the US and Iran, and Pakistanis noticed. Not quietly. We shared the headlines. We passed them around with a particular kind of satisfaction that was almost tender. Look. They trust us. They chose us. And something in us exhaled.

I have been thinking about why that lands so hard. Pakistan is not a country that has been given much to celebrate lately. The economy, the politics, the security, the daily texture of life — none of it has been easy.

So, when the world looks at you and says, you are the ones we trust to hold this conversation, you feel it somewhere deep. We needed that. More than we may want to admit.

Hospitality, like most things, has a direction.

But need has a way of narrowing your vision. When you are hungry for the compliment, you don’t always stop to ask what it is actually describing. Or who it leaves out.

Pakistan’s hospitality is real. Anyone who has travelled here, eaten in a stranger’s home, been waved through a gate or handed tea before being asked a single question knows the instinct is genuine. It runs deep. It is one of........

© Dawn