PARTLY FACETIOUS: Foreign service training

“I know why Shabbar Zaidi left the job that took The Khan months to convince him to take.”

“He reportedly claimed he couldn’t break the…the mould so to speak?”

“Diplomatically put indeed but was he referring to the bureaucratic mould or the executive mould?”

“The imported executive mould I reckon.”

“Hey have you taken foreign service training? I mean your language is even more diplomatic than…than Shah Mehmud Qureshi’s.”

“You have to refine that a bit, Shah Mehmud Qureshi has abandoned diplomacy in his dealings with the opposition though he is diplomatic in his external interactions…”

“What about the recent jab at a friendly brotherly country…”

“Hey you have to let your hair down sometime….though I hope and pray that The Khan lets his hair down for a bit – he is too uptight and needs to loosen a bit…”

“Hmmm anyway back to Shabbar Zaidi as I said I know why he left the job...”

“About time, I mean he left months ago and….”

“I got the proof Tuesday.”

“Hmmm…”

“The Man who Shall from Henceforth Remain Nameless…”

“I thought it was the previous Chairman of the PCB….”

“Two years and three months is all it took to forget him and now the epithet belongs to another. Anyway did you hear his definition of democracy while he told the public the same o same o.”

“Hey The Khan is convinced he is telling the truth so why should, he change his narrative just because you cant make ends meet and many of your relatives are now jobless and…”

“Right but anyway he defined democracy as everyone being allowed to speak even those like you who think they are economists but really their credentials are highly suspect…”

“He didn’t take my name…”

“He didn’t need to. And…and one month long of constant sarcasm was all it took for Zaidi to resign, and his successor didn’t last long either and her successor….”

“But it’s not their fault that he agreed to an unrealistic tax target and then blamed them for not being able to meet it!”

“Who said life is fair and oh speaking of democracy didn’t the Man Who Shall Remain Nameless also served in a dictatorship and then with another who reportedly had to offer him the nomination of caretaker prime ministership to get him to resign and then reneged on that and he then proceeded to bad mouth….”

“Live and let live my friend – as long as he retains the portfolio he is the one who is successful and the rest failures.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020