PARTLY FACETIOUS: TRM is closer to Maryam

“Shehbaz Sharif needs to take serious note of the Finance Minister…”

“I will have you know that Shehbaz Sharif isn’t into giving gag orders to anyone.”

“Why ever not?”

“No one listens to him. So he goes the indirect route — tells his elder brother to give a shut up call to his daughter and her band of merry men, that includes Javed Latif — a man who attacked Shehbaz Sharif’s narrative in favour of The Lady and…”

“One question baffles me: why is Javed Latif a member of the cabinet while TRM isn’t? I mean TRM is closer to Maryam Nawaz and is known to be her trainer…”

“TRM as in The Resident from Middlesex?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe his lack of success…”

“Ha ha, I will have you know that particular information has not yet been leaked.”

“You are being facetious. The Lady does gather large crowds…”

“Right, anyway when I said Shehbaz Sharif needs to take serious note of his Finance Minister I was not referring to a gag order. The guy loves to talk and no power on earth can effectively impose a gag order on him…”

“Not even Maryam Nawaz?”

“She wouldn’t want to make him ill! A gag order may well make him ill, I mean a guy who so obviously loves to be on television, loves to think he is at par with The Khan without realizing that the only ones who know his name are no more than one to two percent of Pakistanis while the entire country has heard of The Khan…”

“Delusions are a common ailment of all politicians, so if not a gag order than what?”

“Shehbaz Sharif must end the relief that his finance minister extended to his family business…”

“Tell me more.”

“He reduced custom duty on food colouring — a raw material used in the preparation of confectionary items — from 11 to 3 percent.”

“Does conflict of interest come under the amended National Accountability Bureau law!”

“Put up or shut up as a former British Prime Minister said before elections and lo and behold he shut everyone up once he won the elections contrary to all predictions.”

“Didn’t I just put up.”

“I would suggest shut up or else?”

“Else what?”

“Else the Finance Minister will get mad at you and become……”

“Hmmmmm.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022