“I heard Fawad Chaudhary was arrested yesterday, early morning, and I haven’t seen the First Information Report (FIR) but reportedly he was arrested for using the word munshi for the Election Commission of Pakistan.”

“Why is the noble profession of munshi being considered an abuse? I went on the net for the exact English translation of a munshi and I came up with clerk, bookkeeper, stenographer, pencil pusher…”

“Pencil pusher? Not pen pusher?”

“Well, a munshi is associated with an old world profession when pens were rare – these days I guess accountant would be a more appropriate translation.”

“Oh really! Well I have it on very good authority, read a witness, that in days of yore after Ishaq Dar had been promoted from the position of Sharif family’s accountant to Commerce Minister, someone suggested he be made the Finance Minister after the Chaghi nuclear test blasts to which proposal Nawaz Sharif responded incredulously What? Make a munshi a finance minister?”

“Well Nawaz Sharif is old school so he used the dated word. But the situation is different today, Dar has been faithful to Nawaz Sharif, as faithful as…as…as…”

“As the late Rehman Malik was to Zardari sahib.”

“I would beg to disagree – Malik never ever capitulated to torture but Dar sahib wrote a 45-page very detailed affidavit. Later after Shehbaz Sharif became the Punjab Chief Minister he ensured that his accountant general did not pursue the case against Dar which was then thrown out……”

“You mean Advocate General and not Accountant General.”

“I suppose I do but Dar sahib is not paying off this debt to Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister. I mean the ridiculous policy of exchange rate control…”

“I would urge the Prime Minister to set up an independent inquiry committee to determine the loss to the economy due to this inane policy and take appropriate action…”

“Nawaz Sharif ain’t gonna allow it, anyway I would urge the ECP to withdraw the case against Fawad Chaudhary. Just because a munshi doesn’t make top dollar doesn’t mean he must be looked down upon.”

“Right I agree munshi profession should not be equated with abuse. Anyway The Khan has used more derogatory…”

“Well the funny thing is that The Khan and his band of merry men once again miscalculated and while his tigers were outside his Zaman Park house to make sure he is not arrested Fawad Chaudhary’s house was left…”

“How do you know it was a miscalculation! If the police could access The Khan maybe that’s where they would have gone first and…”

“Good point.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023