“The embargo continues.” “What embargo?” “The Man Who Must Remain Nameless still! It’s been at least year if not more, I mean as a nation we are not that consistent in following directives…”

“Depends on whether the directive giver is still in a position of power.”

“Indeed, if you recall, Nawaz Sharif was in jail and then out he came….why are you laughing?”

“Well, at that time power had shifted, though The Man Who Must Remain Nameless wasn’t aware for more than a year that the shift had been seismic.”

“OK now some are citing Notification Maryam Nawaz’s (NMN) statements that power talks to power and power is being defined as the capacity to spearhead huge jalsas…”

“I define power as knowledge.”

“Sorry, that doesn’t apply to our political leaders. NMN’s power is daddy, daddy’s power is the headlong plunge or suicide jump into the realm of the unfavoured by The Man Who Must Remain Nameless, Shehbaz Sharif’s power is in getting the Most Favoured Status by the plungers…”

“And Zardari sahib?”

“He made one reference to the limited tenure of those who get paid at the taxpayers’ expense, stayed out of the country for a few years, and never repeated that mistake.”

“Hmmm you reckon some lessons have been learned by the two Lahori leaders.”

“As a Lahori myself, I will tell you that we take what we consider our entitlements very seriously, and that’s when we begin to make mistakes.”

“That reminds me aren’t the Israelis acting like Lahoris, I mean the level of arrogance and what worked in the past, escalation dominance or bombard the hell out of your enemies to ensure that there is no capacity to fight back…”

“But the world has changed. Ten months, Gaza erased to the ground, and yet Hamas remains a potent force and has become a fertile ground for fresh recruitment, US Muslims are expected to remain uncommitted in the forthcoming US elections because of the administration’s pro-Israeli stance and surely a shift against Israeli actions in Gaza is gathering momentum in the US, China and Russia increasingly criticizing Israel and the US…”

“Well Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, and he was a dove compared to others, the right-hand man of Hezbollah leader’s assassination will bring forth reprisals – my point is what has Netanyahu gained or the US for that matter?”

“They are talking of Iranian proxies…”

“That term cannot be applied to Israel – that’s where the tail is wagging the dog.”

“Indeed.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024