This is apropos two letters to the Editor under the headline “The farce of caretaker govts” carried by the newspaper on Friday and yesterday. Having read the article written by learned Waqar Rana sahib and the two subsequent letters penned by two other gentlemen, I wish to make the following points in order to add to a wider debate about the current political and economic impasse in the country. Noted political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli had famously said, among other things, that “politics has no relation to morals”. What he had said more than 500 years ago is still a universal truth.

What is also true in this context is that politics has always been played with deception, treachery, and crime. What is however a matter of concern for every citizen is that Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan is still learning the ropes even after his ouster through a no-confidence vote against him about a year ago. How ironic it is that he himself has contributed to the political mess in the country in a meaningful way by dissolving the assemblies of two provinces ruled by his own party with a view to creating an environment or conditons for snap or immediate general election.

Little did he realize that he had committed a Himalayan blunder for, in politics, you don’t give up power even for one single moment. To conclude, please allow me to tell Imran Khan through these newspaper columns that naivety is important at an early stage—in life or in an undertaking—but a definite impediment later on.

Hina Siddiqui, (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023