“There is one commonality between The Khan and Zardari sahib.”
“Off with your head! How dare you….”
“Are you a khilari (a player) or are you a Zardi (pale faced supporters of Zardari sahib)?”
“For your information The Khan does not refer to his supporters as khilaris but as tigers and yes I know the Sharifs get upset because their election symbol is a tiger but that’s what makes our politics so entertaining.” “Right but you didn’t answer my query? Are you a tiger or a…”
“Tiger as in a Khanzadeh, or tiger as in a Nawala?”
“Given the hat I am wearing today, neither - I am apolitical.”
“And the hat you usually wear? I need to ask because as you know the many, many hats The Khan is forced to wear….”
“I thought Shahbaz Sharif was the hat lover…”
“Stop! Shahbaz Sharif wore hats but The Khan’s love of hats is more metaphysical, intellectual…”
“You being facetious?”
“No, the hats I am referring to are what enable The Khan to talk as an economist, as a learned Muslim, as an educationist, as a health insurance provider, as a supporter of women…oh and he reckons women in the West fought for their rights and not some foreign power….”
“There is still gender disparity in senior positions as well as the number of women hired in any entity in the West but you know it was the two world wars when most of the men were out in the trenches and women had to come out and work and….”
“Not like Afghanistan today I guess; by the way do you remember George Bush junior sitting in a classroom at the time he was informed of 9/11 attacks…”
“Oh I see where you are going with this but the attack was at Kabul airport not in Pakistan and…”
“But had The Khan been informed he might have desisted from giving his views on Afghan women.”
“I doubt it but anyway the one thing The Khan has in common with Zardari sahib is the fact that both claim to be students of history – didn’t The Khan say that during the three year ceremony….”
“Hey The Khan has a degree from Oxford…”
“Zardari sahib has a degree from the streets of Karachi and that is useful, very useful….”
“OK let’s agree that the two may claim to be students of history but they are not interested in the same period or the same country or region or….”
“Don’t be facetious.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021