ANJUM IBRAHIM

The ‘ordeal’ of Captain Safdar

“Finally he got his due as being the First Son-in-law!”

“If you are referring to Captain Safdar’s arrest at the airport then I feel it’s not fair, the guy received only 1500 dirhams from his wife’s family… besides I am not convinced that he knew the extent of his wife’s assets – tangible and intangible…”

“I wasn’t referring to his arrest, I was referring to people lying down in front of the car he was in and there were shouts of support for 20 minutes; besides even though his pocket money was not that large yet he knew when he married Maryam that she was an extremely wealthy lady, not in his league…”

“How dare you refer to the League without using its most relevant letter and…”

“What do you mean? Oh I see, you mean Pakistan Muslim League and I suppose the most important letter is P for Pakistan - the party headed by the Captain’s father in law but I wasn’t…”

“Nope, that’s not it either, the only relevant letter in that party’s acronym is N which stands for Nawaz. The good Captain’s wife dropped his name to take on her dad’s first name….”

“You know I know of many a General retired or Brigadier retired but retiring as a captain kind of shows not very good in the career…”

“I think he quit soon after he got married…”

“Oh I see… anyway, I have it on good authority that Maryam is going to go the Zardari sahib route in the event that she is as successful in becoming her father’s political heir as she was in becoming his asset heir – wait before you ask I mean any of her children who become interested in becoming the country’s prime minister would be named let’s say Junaid Nawaz Safdar.”

“Hmmm…”

“What, didn’t Zardari sahib successfully…”

“Yes, but Zardari sahib didn’t have to contend with a Mrs Zardari ever! I mean Benazir Bhutto remained Benazir Bhutto till her death; Maryam dropped Safdar recently and replaced it with Nawaz……”

“Does it matter if it’s recent or never!”

“I guess not, anyway the confrontation between our three major families – Nawaz, Zardari and the Khan - makes me appreciate what medieval Europe used to do for peace – inter-marriages between royal families…”

“But there is an age gap here – Maryam’s children and Bhutto Zardaris or vice versa and the Khan’s children are not likely to consider an arranged marriage…”