Anjum Ibrahim

The King is neither dead nor even ill

“So what do you reckon? If Mian sahib is a tiger then what is Shahid Khaqan Abbasi?”

“Well, he is certainly not a rat - I mean rats leave a sinking ship and he isn’t leaving any ship though he is certainly jumping from one ship to another and then back again.”

“That’s the mark of a good gymnast… and unless one is heading a party being a gymnast is a prerequisite… I mean there are probably no more than a handful who have not jumped ship ever.”

“Right, but every time Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is jumping one ship to another he has trouble jumping back, I mean the distance between the two ships is kind of growing.”

“True, so a more appropriate proverb is he wants to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds – our Prime Minister not only signed off on the press release issued by his office after the National Security Committee meeting which condemned Nawaz Sharif’s fallacious assertions, but held a press conference in which he defended Nawaz Sharif…”

“I hear the hares are kind of angry in spite of the fact that he did not broadcast his defense, while the hound that he was hunting with turned into an angry and hungry tiger and…”

“Oh you are so bad. But seriously be fair to him. He was between the rock and a hard place…”

“Is the rock Nawaz Sharif, and the hard place the establishment?”

“I am not sure, but Nawaz Sharif is definitely a tiger, he is prowling in the forest and is rightly taking umbrage at any other animal in the forest who is not accepting his God given right to lord it over the entire forest, Nawaz Sharif is the biggest and the baddest and the bravest and his party members who are benefiting from his popularity had better toe the line instead of claiming that he never said what he clearly says he said and…”

“I get it but let me quote a Chinese proverb to you, to climb a tree to catch a fish is talking much and doing nothing.”

“Well, for your information, this tiger will not even try to climb a tree with accessible branches; and his biggest enemy is another tiger, stronger younger tiger…”

“Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is certainly not a tiger, is Shahbaz Sharif a tiger yet do you reckon?”

“I would like to quote a Haitian proverb to you, the child of a tiger is a tiger so I guess Maryam Nawaz qualifies and she doesn’t need to attain the stature of a tiger while all others, even other blood kin, are unlikely to replace the old tiger by fighting it… so there”.

“Right and as the Saudi proverb states a hero only appears once the tiger is dead.”

“Or the King is dead, Long Live the King.”

“Nope, the King is neither dead nor even ill so no.”