Partly Facetious: Will minus one formula ever work?

01 Jul, 2015

"Well, who fired everyone that has been fired."
"The only one who can fire anyone in this country is the prime minister and he certainly has not been fired."
"Ha ha ha, he is the twice-fired prime minister of this country and some lessons have been learned though it appeared during the first year of his current stint in power that he hadn't really absorbed the lesson based on ground realities. But I was referring to Donald Trump - a presidential; contender."
"You are being facetious."
"Right, but given the routine 1990s firing of our prime ministers I appreciate Altaf bhai's decision to emigrate to another country - no official power and therefore no one can fire him."
"Really, so why has he begun talking of a conspiracy to get rid of him - you know the minus Altaf bhai formula?"
"All our leaders, national leaders, have been subjected to the minus one formula. There was talk of minus one in PML-N when the Sharif family was in exile, there has been talk of minus Benazir Bhutto when she was in exile, there was and continues to be talk of minus Zardari and now there is talk of minus Altaf bhai. I think the MQM should take this as a compliment to their leader - he has come of age."
"Don't be facetious - Altaf bhai is facing serious cases in British courts and there is a consensus here that Altaf bhai should be tried for treason."
"He can't in Pakistan, I mean even if we take his links with RAW as the absolute truth - incidentally the Indian Express, a daily, has claimed that RAW funds were routed to MQM through Mohammad Anwar - even then how can he be tried in a Pakistani court of law? He is not a Pakistani citizen! And he can't even be taken to court by Britain because getting funding from RAW to engage in activities in a third country, or such is the allegation, does not constitute treason against the UK."
"Right, but in Pakistan to take money from RAW is a serious offense."
"Right, but I asked you what can we do apart from jamming his telephonic address to hundreds of thousands of his supporters?"
"Hmmm, so not that well thought out? If he is not convicted in the money laundering and murder case the minus one formula will not work as it did not in other parties you reckon"
"Precisely - so it's same o same o."

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