“So it all boils down to the same o, same o.”
“I don’t get you, if you are implying that The Khan has not changed policy – even his pro-poor policies...OK so granted that Ehsaas is not on paper and it will have the same fate as the baby and the bath water…”
“Who throws away the baby in real life for Pete’s sake!”
“Neither did The Khan – Benazir Income Support Programme remains and…”
“And what the Sehat Sahulat card?”
“If I recall correctly the Brothers Sharif began the programme in 2015 or was it 2016, but it was a pilot project at the time, and they asked The Khan to join from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but The Khan launched his own programme which incidentally was kind of similar…”
“Like The Khan and team have urged the Sindh PPP to join and they have refused…”
“Right, the politics of our national parties. But extending it country wide will sow the seeds of its eventual financial collapse…”
“Right reminds me of our pension system. Anyway when I said it all boils down to same o same o I was referring to The Khan’s modus operandi: appoint non-performers at public expense and praise them no end - khairaj-i-tehseen is The Khan’s favourite phrase - before firing them. It happened to Nadeem Babar, it happened to Tabish Gauhar, it happened to Hafeez Sheikh and now it has happened to Mr Rotund…”
“I thought Mr Rotund was asked to leave because he was gaining weight and…”
“So is The Buzz and you know the difference between the two men?”
“Spiritually they are different and…”
“Nope, the one has an aen (24th letter of the Urdu alphabet in his name) and Shahzad Akbar doesn’t and I warned him time and again to change his name…”
“Oh shush, anyway that wasn’t quite what I was referring to, I was referring to the subtle elevations of one individual over another — remember Nawaz Sharif’s lament was why did you get rid of me, The Khan’s refrain during his telephonic interaction with the public has similar echoes and…”
“I don’t agree The Khan is still the prime minister, when threats are made, once he is out then he may approach the situation the same way.”
“Hmmm, anyway I was watching Governor State Bank of Pakistan seated with three other members of his team, or was it four answering questions on the monetary policy…”
“He was not the only one who spoke I think.”
“The chair, his chair was a tad higher and wider than the ones occupied by the others.”
“Ha ha, and wherever The Khan sits, it’s the head of the table so it all boils to the chair hunh!”
“Indeed.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022