Partly Facetious : The principle of 'Pakistani double jeopardy'

"The right way to attack one's opposition is to come from the side or behind. I mean there is no point in warning one's adversary and putting him on high alert."

"That assumes that the high alert will enable the victim to deflect the attack?"

"Forewarned is forearmed. It allows you to take mitigating measures..."

"Like leave the country?"

"Precisely; yes."

"I don't think that works in this country. I mean you could be convicted and if you know the right people then you can still leave the country..."

"Hey, Nawaz Sharif was allowed to leave according to the principle of Pakistani double jeopardy and..."

"Double jeopardy means that if you are declared innocent of a specific crime, perhaps because say the National Accountability Bureau or any other law enforcing agency does not have evidence or if they have evidence the prosecution is weak then you can never ever be tried for that crime again."

"That's not double jeopardy a la Pakistani style. In our country actual sentencing remains pending for decades, sometimes during the lifetime of the accused and you wait and get a verdict in your favour when you control the prosecution and, if convicted, you appeal when you control the prosecution and..."

"I guess and if you are convicted and not in power there are cases of successfully negotiating your freedom within the country or without. My point is a frontal attack as The Khan is learning much to his chagrin rarely succeeds. Now if he learns to go sideways or come from behind...'"

"Who can he learn that from? Not from any other leader, remember Zardari sahib as President tried to get rid of the Punjab government, he didn't succeed and Nawaz Sharif invariably got rid of his own government, by taking on powerful institutions' heads..."

"But the two did have short and on occasion medium term success. And need I add during The Khan's 18 month tenure while opposition leaders are being put behind bars, but only for the short term, no one has been convicted yet..."

"So if he can't learn from politicians then who can The Khan learn from?"

"From his Advisor on Finance who got rid of a Secretary at the drop of a hat when that Secretary challenged some of the conditions under the IMF programme; he got rid of Hammad Azhar as the top chap on Revenue, blocked Haroon Akhtar Khan's entry as Azhar's replacement and..."

"That's taking responsibility for the unrealistic revenue target that he agreed with the IMF."

"No, for that he blamed Shabbar Zaidi. And recently he chaired a meeting of a think tank set up by the Prime Minister, a think tank that Sheikh never had any use for, and got them to call for a further cut in the policy rate..."

"But perhaps the think tank members..."

"The press release was issued by the Ministry of Finance. My suggestion to The Khan: learn from the Sheikh on how to clear the path of all who you consider toxic debris and..."

"Maybe that's the difference between the two men's success rate is that while Sheikh considers all those who threaten his authority as debris The Khan reckons they are toxic debris."

"Different strokes for different folks."