“Steal, engage in grand larceny which I define as taking what should not accrue to you or your heirs if you follow legal…”
“No sireee, not legal because anyone who changes a statutory regulatory order by levying zero customs and excise duties till an import consignment of a family member has entered our ports…”
“Ha ha, that’s the way an industrialist or a big importer may think while an agriculturist is going to focus on commissions and…and wait many firms operating in countries around the world, in spite of their tightening laws, have an inbuilt cost of commission in the total cost of the product…”
“Right, but what were you going to say when you referred to grand larceny?”
“Well simply that we have seen that a politician can engage in any legal or illegal activity to the detriment of the general public but his/her loyalists vote him/her back to power. My point prices can continue to rise and the opposition can badmouth The Khan as much as it wants but he will continue to enjoy support of his core base.”
“You mean political death is a concept that doesn’t exist in Pakistan?”
“Yes and besides the opposition forgets that The Khan has access to the treasury – he can award all sorts of favours for the next year and a half, a period long enough in politics to make it worthwhile…”
“Right, besides there is no precedence of a successful vote of no-confidence — even the move against Benazir Bhutto failed even though her administration was weak, the opposition was strong, the establishment was against her…”
“She had one person that The Khan doesn’t have anymore?”
“One person cannot…”
“She had Zardari sahib and The Khan got rid of his Zardari and is forced to do a Nawaz Sharif instead of a Zardari — and need I add, look where Nawaz Sharif is today! In exile.”
“I don’t get you. Who is The Khan’s Zardari?”
“It’s not those around him today because they are one-seaters only — Asad Umar, Hammad Azhar, Shah Mehmud Qureshi and he is a man of one seat because didn’t he lose the provincial seat that he wanted…”
“Do you mean Jehangir Tareen was The Khan’s Zardari?”
“Yes I do, and with him gone The Khan is going the route of Nawaz Sharif. What did Sharif, on his daughter’s advice, do when he was told to vacate the Prime Minister’s House in 2017? He went to the public giving one speech after another denigrating those he held responsible for his ouster…”
“I take strong exception to your comment…”
“Which one?”
“The reference to Sharif’s daughter as the source of the advice. I will have you know that The Khan has nothing but contempt for her and for you to say that he will follow what Maryam Nawaz…”
“Don’t be facetious.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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