"The army, the ISPR chief stated, believes in the rule of law and democracy, or so some government supporters are pointing out while the statement that sometimes silence is itself a response is being quoted by those who are inclined to be against the government or the pessimists..."
"Which one are you?"
"I am an idealist, at times when I believe that democracy should not only mean general elections every five years but political parties must have democracy within their ranks, but at other times I believe in analyzing a situation based on ground realities which are not always rooted in textbook democracy."
"Textbook democracy, hunh!"
"Well, yes and need I point out that no country that I know of has textbook democracy, the lure of power is heady to say the least and..."
"OK, OK, but in my most recent edition of the book of Pakistani Political Tales, textbook democracy is defined as victory in the peoples' court which must not be confused with victory in a court of law. Or in other words if someone who won in the people's court engages in an illegal act or unlawful act..."
"Ah, but legislation can be changed by a party that won in the peoples' court."
"Hmmm."
"And that is the circle of politics."
"I had heard of the circle of life in the Jungle Book, when survival of the hunter or predator, if you will, means the end of life of another and the carcass disposal is by a third party known as the scavengers."
"May I be allowed to draw parallels between the circle of politics and the circle of life?"
"OK..."
"In the circle of Pakistani politics lions (or tigers if you will) sometimes, not often, but sometimes lose a fight with say a hippopotamus or an elephant out to protect their young."
"Am I supposed to figure out the allegories..."
"Let me finish, the one that loses life to feed the predator and a lion is invariably cited as the most well known predator, is physically weaker and has to back down and in politics that means saying sorry and withdrawing a comment. And the scavengers my friend are those sitting on the sidelines where all predators and their prey must come in the end....and those are the ship jumpers - look at how many men and women, honourable all, supported Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif and Zardari sahib."
"You are being facetious."