PARTLY FACETIOUS: Maryam and her NBF

“I can’t understand why lessons never seem to be learned by our politicians.”

“Mian Nawaz Sharif as you know is famous for making the same mistake again just to prove that his decision was right the first time …and the second time….and the third time…and…”

“And he is still waiting for that nirvana.”

“Don’t be facetious.”

“Maryam Nawaz and her New Best Friend (NBF) Maulana Fazlur Rehman wanted all their party members in the assemblies to tender their resignations to the speakers and better sense prevailed because of Zardari sahib and Son…”

“Ha ha now I know why Zardari sahib prefers to deal with Maryam and not….”

“There is also a long history of the Sharif brothers – Nawaz and Shahbaz - hurling abuses at Zardari sahib while Maryam does not have that history though to be honest once push comes to shove she will probably be two steps ahead of the elder Sharifs in hurling abuses….”

“That’s true, the Lady has a lot of anger; anyway I want to ask the two main Opposition parties why they don’t consider getting The Khan out through the judicious use of two known facts that they used effectively in the past…”

“The establishment…”

“Nope don’t go there – first fact, is it or isn’t it a fact, that the Zardari clan and the Sharif family are extremely wealthy and we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars and…”

“Yes but I am sick of hearing that the money will be brought back because it doesn’t seem to be…”

“No, no don’t go there, the second fact well understood by Zardari sahib as well as Nawaz Sharif is that particular parties and many individual politicians are amenable to shall we say taking u-turns in terms of their allegiance on promise of some cash delivered inside or outside the country and/or diversion of development funds to their constituencies and/or return on contracts and….”

“Well indeed yes but The Khan says….”

“Nope that’s not the point I wanted to make either - my question is why don’t the Zardaris and the Sharifs pool money to get the turncoats on their side and…”

“Oh I get it, no can do – first because they don’t have any history of spending cash from their own accounts for politicking, it’s always been government funds and need I add the Sharifs don’t have access to government funds though Zardari sahib does but…wait; the second stumbling block is that the government of the day has significant powers to defuse any move by its allies to change sides and…”

“And as our modern day Brutus would say National Accountability Bureau is an independent entity and…”

“And Brutus is…?”

“Out of the 50 plus around The Khan today at least two thirds would abandon him, including all his 19 or so advisors and special assistants, when the chips are down….”

“The numbers required to change the constitution!”

“Indeed.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021