PARTLY FACETIOUS: Hafeez, too, tested positive for Covid-19

“Now that Hafeez Sheikh has departed…”

“He is still in the country I reckon – packing.”

“May I tell you a secret?”

“Sure.”

“A federal minister told me that the amount of packing that Sheikh needed to do was not more than two suit cases full and that takes hours not days. He didn’t come to office Monday and I would assume that at the latest that was the day he was informed of his dismissal and so it’s been more than a couple of days…”

“You reckon he is hanging around so that he can make good on his claim during his twenty three months of holding the finance portfolio – notably that he returned from the good life in Dubai to serve the country that he loves and…”

“Ha, ha, you are funny; he has tested Covid positive and isolating.

“No seriously he can provide guidance to Hammad Azhar who I am very impressed with and…”

“He is a graduate of SOAS London - now granted that University is not known for economics, but…”

“No that’s not the reason I am impressed – he has done an Asad Umar…”

“No way Jose - Umar was dismissed and returned with a vengeance while Hammad Azhar has skirted around real power to make economic policies, been humiliated by Hafeez Sheikh during press conferences by being one of the surrounding officials…”

“Ah, so it’s like an in-house steady promotion.”

“Yes, anyway going back to Hafeez Sheikh working as a member of the advisory council is unlikely – I reckon he is willing to serve the country but in some capacity that requires protocol, a house in the minister’s enclave with free utilities and staff…”

“Not free, the tax payers are paying for the amenities whose tariffs he pledged to the International Monetary Fund to raise every few months and the price of petroleum through raising the taxes on petroleum and products and…”

“Hey there is no need to get excited…as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said to his older sister Maryam Nawaz take a sip of water, calm down…relax…”

“If you define relaxing as becoming quiet then Maryam Nawaz has taken his advice.”

“I don’t think a glass of water did it I reckon daddy told her to shut up and not to put up and then she went quiet… Daddy is the only one she listens to apparently…”

“That’s filial of her…”

“Indeed, besides her inheritance of assets maybe complete but her political inheritance remains in limbo…”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021