ANJUM IBRAHIM

The matter of choice

“You know if there is a choice between Shahbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz I unhesitatingly support Shahbaz Sharif. If there is a choice between heeding the words of someone like Chaudhry Nisar and the goat, and I am referring to our one and a half months old Foreign Minister who begins and then gets stuck on the word mein, mein, mein (translated as me, me, me) the call of the goat in Urdu, I would heed the words of Chaudhry Nisar…”

“In English, a goat goes baa, baa, baa…”

“That’s a sheep - a goat is closely related to the sheep family but…”

“There is no but. The two, goat and sheep, bleat; and if the two bleat then the two go baa, baa, baa…”

“I see, the level of our conversation has become as inane as that of our political leadership.”

“Well, anyway if Khawaja Asif has played his cards right and Nawaz Sharif and family can sustain power over the party from London then he is here to stay and need I remind you that one other party leader controlled his party from London…”

“Hmmm, I am not sure one can compare the two, my friend. Nawaz Sharif is no Altaf Hussain and I say this because Altaf Hussain controlled two cities of Sindh by shall we say deploying a well armed militia whose members followed only his instructions, paying them by getting them government jobs which did not require attendance courtesy his support for all federal and provincial governments. When Nawaz Sharif was exiled by Musharraf how many of his supporters remained loyal to him I ask you?”

“Point taken, though many who had abandoned him when he was in exile rejoined his cabinet during his third tenure but both Chaudhry Nisar and Khawaja Asif remained loyal.”

“Right, but I reckon Nawaz Sharif cannot control the party from London for long, and if Shahbaz Sharif comes into power then Khawaja Asif has not played his cards right.”

“He can join some other party.”

“Which party? I doubt the PTI will take him and the PPP is dead in Punjab; besides he retained his seat in parliament on a stay order.”

“Just the right man to be the foreign minister then as nothing for example a constituency, holds him back. We also have a man accused of having wealth in excess of his known income as the finance minister, and the…”

“Carefully selecting the most unsuitable cabinet members shows the Abbasi government is following the policies of the Sharif administration.”

“Don’t be facetious, besides the two prime minister could have made Maulana Fazlur Rehman the Minister for Petroleum, Daniyal Aziz the Minister for Religious Affairs, Talal Chaudhry as the Minister for Planning, and…”

“Who gets Information or Disinformation?”

“Maryam Nawaz.”

“And some say she is not ready to become the party leader!”