“So was Kakar’s five-day visit to the United States to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting a success?”

“That’s Prime Minister Kakar to you!”

“Have you been hired as a consultant to the Ministry of Information? And if so what is your package?”

“For Pete’s sake don’t always think the glass is half empty.”

“You are right; but I reckon the glass is empty at present. There are at least four trying to pour into the glass which we, the people, would not only be forced to swallow but which we will be told we will like and we should smile in gratitude.”

“Anyone with aab-e-zamzam, the purest water on this planet according to scientists, and for us Muslims drinking it brings abundant blessings…”

“Stop it right there – no religious touch…”

“OK, so is one of the four trying to pour a blackish liquid into the glass, you know to match the colour of the burqa that The Third Wife…”

“I thought she transitioned into white after the incarceration of the Man Who Must Remain Nameless.”

“Wasn’t it the other way round: from white to black?”

“I forget but white may reflect innocence in the West and black represents death or mourning…”

“It’s the same in our culture.”

“Oh I see.”

“Anyway, Caretaker Prime Minister Kakar reportedly took his wife and son with him on the five-day tour at the taxpayers’ expense but did not manage to meet with any head of government...not Erdogan who was there, not His Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani who was there, not…”

“I bet you, had the Sharifs been heading the delegation instead of Kakar sahib, they would have been able to meet the Qatari emir, Notification Maryam Nawaz’s son’s father in law has ties to the Qatari royal family, and Erdogan…”

“That is the difference between caretakers and an elected…”

“Right but Kakar sahib didn’t get to meet those heads of governments who would have been eager to meet him but didn’t because they didn’t attend the UNGA meeting - President Xi never attended the UNGA, nor did Sunak or Macron or…”

“Is that the official version?”

“Yep, anyway the caretaker finance minister said over the weekend that the government, I assume she can only speak for the caretakers, is determined to fight off the economic crisis…”

“Has she stopped taking briefings? I mean doesn’t she realize that the state of the economy is such that years if not decades are required to sort out…”

“Briefings are ongoing, for your information briefings given by underlings are the bread and butter of senior international bureaucrats and as she was one for most of her working life…”

“Don’t be facetious.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023