PARTLY FACETIOUS: All roads do lead to Islamabad

“Can I tell you an interesting news item.”

“Not about The King and His Three Wives.”

“For your information if the wives are not concurrent then the rule of law has been followed and…”

“Two things even if they are concurrent it is allowed under Muslim law and second for your information let me cite the proverb that all roads do not lead to Rome, or in this case to Islamabad.”

“The correct phrase is all roads do lead to Rome.”

“This is the Land of the Pure and we have different…different…”

“Rules and speaking of the rule of law remaining a challenge….”

“Right there is the case of Sahiwal shooting where the parents and a 13-year old were brutally killed on the highway while the younger children were left at the petrol station, and then we have the Tehreek-e-Taliban protests with policemen killed which has done wonders for police morale by the way.”

“There you go…”

“I was being sarcastic!”

“A word that is not in the Pakistani political lexicon anyway coming back to the interesting news. In 1989 a Thai janitor stole a 50 carat blue diamond priced at 20 million dollars from his Saudi employer. The Saudis stopped issuing visas to Thais, suspended visas to Thai Muslims who wanted to perform Hajj…”

“Hmmmm, are you saying that the punishment was disproportionate!”

“I am not finished — three Saudi diplomats seeking the return of the 50 carat diamond were shot dead in Bangkok and a Bangkok based Saudi businessmen disappeared, a man who reportedly was seeking the stolen jewel.”

“The Thai police claimed it had solved the case and the jewels sent back to Saudi Arabia were fake…and the blue diamond remains unrecovered to this day.”

“Right, but recently the Thai government expressed regret over the incident, and MBS has forgiven the Thais.”

“So is there a moral to the story?”

“I don’t get you.”

“Are you urging the thieves to keep their ill-gotten wealth undeclared because they will eventually be forgiven; or…or what are you suggesting? That corruption within a country ensures that the thieves go unpunished?”

“You referring to Shahzad Akbar’s lugubrious exit and…”

“Stop, surely you are not suggesting that the government engage in theft to clear the debt burden and…”

“I am not suggesting anything – just shared an interesting news with you.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022