PARTLY FACETIOUS: A different drum?

“The Khan dances to the tune of a different drummer.”

“And that is a good thing because previous drummers allowed a lot of the country’s wealth to leave the country and…….”

“Maybe he needs to change the drummer?”

“I don’t know where you are going with this but between you and me you may change the drummer but don’t forget drummers are trained in the same school so that won’t achieve anything.”

“Surely there are some self-taught drummers.”

“Not good ones.”

“What about those still in the drummer school? Surely their mind set can be worked on.”

“The Khan’s drummers in training have been around for quite a while so I don’t reckon they are likely to change their mind set. Take Umer Ayub, the guy after two and half years has failed to improve the performance of the sector but retains his portfolio because he knows the ins and outs of the leadership of opposition parties as he has held important portfolios in many an administration. Ayub knows precisely what to say to hurt them the most.”

“That would mean Sarwar of the PIA is not changeable either.”

“Right!”

“Besides The Khan is not focused on drummers serving his administration, he praises them at every opportunity, it’s the opposition team that he wants to tackle first – reportedly he has stated that he will resign as soon as all the wealth these guy have stashed abroad is returned.”

“Hmmm…”

“You don’t believe him!? Let me tell you The Khan is one of the most honest….”

“I agree but I reckon The Khan’s biggest flaw is what he has in common with other honest people: he reckons those around him are just as honest…besides this implies that The Khan and the accused would have to agree on how much was stolen. And with The Khan not even shaking hands with members of the opposition, not until they join his party, I reckon an agreement on how much was stolen is as….as unrealistic a condition as….as Hafeez Sheikh’s claims of better expenditure management and widening the tax net to increase revenue.”

“Hmmm but if you reckon a dishonest Khan would have been able to catch the dishonest politicians then I would like to point out to you that when we had dishonest decision makers then we had massive outflows of wealth so what must we do to cleanse this country of dishonesty?”

“Oh I see your concern…. The Khan has it right: through operationalizing Madinah ki riyasat (administration)….and for your information there were no drummers in Madinah of yore….”

“I get it….”

“About time.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021