“In the old days…”

“What? You planning on telling me a fairy story cause that’s how most of them start?”

“I wanted to share an experience with you, an experience that dates back to days of yore when our prime ministers and others with the hand on the till…”

“Till?”

“Till as in the treasury that our tax money fills up.”

“Ha ha ha.”

“What’s so funny?”

“It doesn’t fill up as much as our prime ministers have wanted – including the King of Reconciliation Zardari, the why did you kick me out Nawaz Sharif, the I am a Dangerous Man Imran Khan…”

“Hmmm, all who began to love The Chair kursi as we say in Urdu.”

“The kursi gives you the power to ban all opposition statements, jalsas and claims on state run and on many non-state-run media outlets…when you rise from The Chair everyone in the room rises and rushes to open doors for you, you get to use a helicopter to commute from and to your home, you decide who you will deign to meet till of course there is the threat of The Chair being pulled from under you…”

“All three leaders went through this painful process with only Zardari sahib losing The Chair after completing the stipulated time period…”

“Right, Nawaz Sharif lost The Chair after his conviction and The Khan may be currently undergoing this process but let me tell you lessons have not been learned…”

“Hey, Nawaz Sharif and The Khan have one thing in common – not to accept a mistake even if it’s obvious to everyone else and continue to hope that the mistake is seen as playing the trump card.”

“And this is notwithstanding their…their not stupidity, not accepting that they are neither David nor Goliath, I am thinking of the Urdu word pangas against the establishment….”

“Zardari sahib also engaged in such pangas, but unlike Nawaz Sharif and The Khan he kept his hold on his own party leaders…”

“Anyway, the story I wanted to tell you dates back to the days when foreign tours by members of the executive included journalists from the independent media, non-state media, nominated by their editors…”

“That practice has long since been abandoned…what’s the purpose of taking those who may not declare the trip a resounding success!”

“On my first and yes last such trip one of my colleagues who worked for the government paper told me that if I wanted another foreign tour I should ask the head of the delegation, Nawaz Sharif I recall, to elaborate on the successful (kamyaab) trip — he emphasized repeatedly that the word successful must form part of the question. I was to ask this question during the traditional press conference on the plane on the return journey…”

“Did you?”

“I was about to and then Nawaz Sharif made his opening remarks saying that his kamyaab trip…”

“Ha ha ha, and now you have the Kamyaab Pakistan programme which has yet to take off hunh!”

“Indeed…same o same o.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022