PARTLY FACETIOUS: Providing free care to the needy

"Can you define a rebel?"

"Well a young good looking Che Guevara comes to mind - a revolutionary, a highly educated man, he has become a global countercultural symbol of...."

"In Pakistan's context?"

"I am not sure what you mean? The Khan represented change though he was in his sixties when he became our prime minister but he was a national hero what with winning the world cup and..."

"And at what age did he enter politics?"

"Politics is his second or is it third career - cricket, then setting up Robin Hood cancer hospitals by which I mean providing free care to the needy while the rich get to pay....

"Yep he made Pakistan proud in his first two careers and then he entered politics at around the same age as Maryam today?"

"I think he was younger, Maryam is late 40s and he was early 40s - but see when your dad is not in politics then you start earlier...."

"And you conclude that how? I mean establishing political dynasties is kind of a dated exercise - Z A Bhutto in the early 1970s, Nawaz Sharif in the 1980s, Maulana sahib's daddy......."

"I get it so The Khan has established his own political dynasty but so far there is no heir apparent."

"Indeed but speaking of Maryam Nawaz I now know what K-electric meant when it said cross subsidization was not possible if their exclusivity is taken away..."

"What does that have to do with Maryam Nawaz?"

"Well there was Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inviting her to address the massive crowds at Ghari Khuda Buksh on Benazir Bhutto's death anniversary and viola then he invited everyone else in the Pakistan Democratic Movement...and she came surrounded by Zubayr and Miftah Ismail - both unelected..."

"Where was Talal Chaudhary and Parveen Rashid...sorry but I have no money to replace the key board...."

"One was in an altercation with his neighbor and the other was in the Middle of something..."

"Don't be facetious anyway going back to how to define a rebel a la Pakistan style: Maulana Sherani, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan and Maulana Shujaul Mulk - all kicked out by the F in the JUI-F just like the two PML-N MNAs were directed by an N (not The N) to resign from the assembly because someone had mistakenly sent their resignations to the speaker and..."

"That's a laugh and a half."

"Why the half?"

"The latter half of the N and the frontal part of the F makes a laugh and a half."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020