"So what do you reckon? Is the government being truthful when it says it was not involved in filing the sedition cases against the forty plus PML-N stalwarts or is the opposition right in accusing the government claiming that without an authoritarian nod no SHO would have put his job on the line to file the FIR."
"You belong to the school of thought that maintains that the government's deniability is severely compromised by its media team - many of whom are not elected."
"Elected or selected doesn't matter - they are part of our politics. Look at your favourite party - is Maryam Nawaz elected? And before you begin your diatribe claiming that she has been unfairly barred from standing for elections because of her conviction that did not reflect justice rendered..."
"Hey remember the time when Maryam Nawaz did not stand from the same constituency as the good Doctor Yasmin Rashid because the PML-N high command, read daddy, thought she wouldn't win?"
"Yes but democracy or at least elections are all about change as you know. The PPP signed an NRO with Musharraf which benefited the PPP and the then powerful MQM while PML-N was not a signatory and viola the party won the 2008 elections."
"Their party leader had been assassinated and it was the sympathy vote, but in any case the PML-N was not party to the NRO because of any principled stand - it was because Musharraf did not want to include Nawaz Sharif....."
"OK but since then these two parties have ruled in the centre and in provinces and so I stand by my theory."
"So whether The Khan gives an NRO or not doesn't matter?"
"Nope I don't think so and recent surveys have shown public sentiment against his handling of all issues particularly inflation and unemployment and rising poverty...."
"So what do you think? The government is right or the opposition with respect to the filing of sedition....."
"The Khan must acknowledge that we, the people of Punjab, are gullible, yes, but not that gullible. We know from experience that registering an FIR is extremely challenging in Punjab - the police reforms that were implemented in Khyber Pukhtookhwa allowing any one to file an FIR on-line and in the event that it is a false FIR then that person would be penalized are still pending in Punjab."
"So you reckon it's either the centre or the Punjab government responsible for filing the sedition cases?"
"Yep take your pick - The Khan or The Buzz?"
"I would say the pick is between Noorul Haq Qadri and/or Malik Norman Langrial?"
"Who are these men, I never heard of either of them."
"Qadri sahib is the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony and Langrial sahib is the Punjab Minister for Management and Professional Development."
"What...what...what..."
"You have so much to learn."
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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