“The two best friends forever are down with a bad case of flu – high fever, sore throat and…”

“As long as it’s not Corona….”

“It’s all relative my friend…the onslaught of the Corona on The Khan was a lot less than the onslaught of the flu for the two best friends for ever…”

“I know you are referring to Maryam Nawaz and The Maulana and the amount of time they are spending in PDM related meetings without taking any precautions at least during the subsequent press conferences but…”

“Indeed, such is their absolute trust in each other.”

“One word of caution to Maryam Nawaz: politics is not like any other profession – there is no such thing as best friends for ever, its only best friends for now…but wait she must have learned that after Gilani was elected as the leader of the opposition in the senate while she was giving a big party at her residence and need I add the range of food was a sight to behold…”

“Ha, ha, but you know the old aphorism one can choose one’s friends but not relatives and she was rather busy adopting the Zardari clan as closer relatives than First Uncle and First Cousin… “

“I wonder if daddy has realized finally that his First Offspring’s capacity to learn a lesson is as compromised as…as…”

“As the first offspring of the previous generation?!”

“Ha, ha, as they say in mathematics the sum of a and b equals a+b not c if you know what I mean…”

“But the other branch of the family is…”

“Their terms of reference were different – look at Princes William and Harry – the two turned out different because of their different terms of reference – Prince William as the heir apparent conformed and Prince Harry as the Spare did not…”

“Here it is the opposite isn’t it – Maryam Nawaz as the Heir Apparent does not conform and challenges those that she needs on her side to achieve her ambitions while First Uncle and First Cousin conform…”

“Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has his grandfather and mummy’s charisma and his father’s wily traits…”

“But you know one word of advice to our leaders: anger, justified or not, makes the general public listen the first time, perhaps less so the second time, and even less so the third time but when you repeat the same thing again and again public fatigue sets in…”

“But the jalsas are well attended…”

“Only of diehard supporters and if 2008, 2013 and 2018 election results are anything to go by then a party needs other than die hard supporters to vote for them to win the elections especially without any external support if you know what I mean…”

“So what are you saying? Do a Zardari or wait…a Bhutto Zardari to achieve your objective?”

“Lessons must be learned is all I am saying – to the Elder Sharifs and The Khan…”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021