“I would label 2023 as a revelatory year.” “Yes indeed, the fate of the two brothers.” “I don’t get you.” “The Brothers Sharif – one who made the return of the older brother possible and as a reward got the party ticket for a Karachi seat, NA 242, where the party has no presence and which prompted him to go to Karachi to seek support from the re-re-repaired MQM, which maybe well past its shelf life.…”

“Right; MQM has had to smelt the cracks and there are so many patches that it would be a miracle to keep it intact…”

“Right my friend but with a little bit of support and a little bit of…”

“Wait and see, I mean, it’s not as if you have to wait for long. Anyway, I wasn’t referring to Brothers Sharif.”

“Ah the Brothers – Hmmm I can’t refer to them as Brothers Umer because the older one dropped Umer as a surname if he ever had it…”

“That is funny – I mean both were in different parties, well perhaps that’s not a strong enough word, shall we say warring parties, anyway the two brothers were placed in the proverbial black hole by their party leader – men as diverse as The Man Who Must Remain Nameless and Nawaz Sharif and…”

“Hey they may be different in all ways but in the way they rule their own party – with an iron hand.”

“Right anyway I wasn’t referring to these two brothers either when I said 2023 was the year of revelations and the reason is I don’t think our politics has changed at all and neither has the way the leaders operate within their parties – with an iron glove.”

“I thought the expression was iron fist.”

“Fist implies the possibility of getting bruised; our leaders prefer to use a glove when engaging with their own minions”.

“But, one is in jail and whatever the picture being painted by the Gongloo league you and I both know that jail is not, I repeat not, the same as not being in jail.”

“Correct anyway, when I referred to 2023 as a revelatory year I was actually looking at the change in our perception about the West. The sanctimonious drivel about human rights that Western leaders have lectured the world has been seen for what it is…”

“By the people of the world, including their own citizens,the Gaza massacre, I mean you can’t really refer to that as a war or Israel in self-defense mode….”

“The true butcher of Gaza is Biden and the poodles…”

“Wait for the elections – let’s see if Biden wins. Anyway, the concept of the international community, consisting of rich Western nations, is dissolving….”

“By the hour as Israeli atrocities filter out, but you know what the irony is? The butchers of Gaza must draw a lesson from the Man Who Must Remain Nameless – social media cannot be contained, it is here to stay, and you can rant and rave and talk of fake news but…”

“Agreed”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024