of our team?
“Where is The Rana?”
“The Rana?”
“Our home-grown…”
“Don’t say drug lord, for that was so wrongly alleged by former Minister of State for Narcotics Shehryar Afridi.”
“You know the two men do look alike don’t they – the moustache, so very, very, black…”
“Oh shush anyway The Rana, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs since April this year, is in Paris these days.”
“What for? To share valuable lessons with the French President on how to play the numbers game without the requisite seats in the assembly?”
“Don’t be facetious – he is leading the Pakistani Olympics team.”
“Dear Lord.”
“Hey if Naqvi can retain his position as Chairman, PCB in spite of the humiliating defeat of our team…”
“In the Land of the Very Pure, it’s not about what you know, it’s all about who you know.”
“And clearly you and I don’t know the who!”
“Bang on the head! Anyway for your information the Pakistani Olympics squad, defined as actual players, consists of seven, and The Rana is leading a delegation of eleven officials in support of the seven…”
“So does that make it Magnificent Seven or Magnificent Eleven?”
“The latter, my friend, always the latter.”
“So the funding for this was approved by?”
“Stop right there! The selection of the eleven was in the supreme national interest and…”
“Did we have to clear it with the International Monetary Fund staff?”
“Don’t be silly – we may raise taxes on the salaried as per the Fund’s advice, we may raise the petroleum levy as per the Fund’s advice, but we aren’t going to let the Fund decide what we spend where…”
“Especially where the supreme national interest is involved.”
“Especially then.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024