This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "The die is cast" carried by the newspaper a few days ago. The writer, Rashed Rahman, appears to have displayed his empathy for the "plight" of opposition parties' politicians by arguing, among other things, that "Pulling no punches, he [Nawaz] took to task the 'parallel' government that was actually running the show from behind the scenes, calling it the root of all the country's problems and arguing it was not so much Imran Khan and his government that was the target but what he dubbed the 'state above the state'." The writer, however, seems to have lost sight of the fact that his senior party leaders had been meeting those "behind a government that is actually running the show" quite frequently. My question is whether Mohammad Zubair of PML-N had a luncheon with the army chief in the absence of PML-N Quaid's consent or permission or not. Didn't the chief of his own faction of JUI-F Maulana Fazlur Rahman hold a one-on-one meeting with Gen Bajwa in Lahore? It appears to be quite interesting that now Nawaz Sharif has barred his party members from meeting army and agencies' personnel.

Afzal Husain (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020