“So who is in the wrong?”

“Depends on which side of the fence you are sitting.”

“Viola! There you have it! Fake news! The era of social media is here and fake news by mainstream media is now a thing of the past…”

“What about fake news doing the rounds in the social media?”

“I stand by what I said.”

“And what did you say?”

“Whatever I said.”

“Hmmm, sounds like the political discourse these days and whichever side of the fence you may be sitting on the fact remains that you are willing to…to…”

“Blaze a new trail of confrontation — see the politicians of the old Pakistan accepted albeit reluctantly their change of fortunes before their tenures were up but…”

“For your information confrontation analysis as per the Wikipedia also referred to as dilemma analysis is an operational analysis technique used to structure, understand and think through multiparty interactions such as negotiations. It is derived from the game theory but considers that instead of resolving the game the players often redefine the game when interacting…”

“Hey when talk is between good and evil then neutrality is not an option…”

“Wait, wait let me finish defining confrontation analysis — emotions triggered from the potential interaction play a large part in this redefinition.”

“But you know such analysis has never been undertaken in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and hence I not only dismiss your definition as irrelevant but accuse you of conspiracy as this definition is undertaken in Western capitalist countries with a history of interference in the affairs of poorer nations, read Afghanistan, read Iraq, read Libya, read Syria, read…”

“OK fair enough, but no Western nation has attacked Pakistan yet — yes to frequent terror attacks launched by the Pakistan Taliban resident on Afghan soil and of course three wars with India but not…”

“Drones remember.”

“We haven’t had a drone for years besides the Americans and NATO have left Afghanistan and…”

“They left a bunch of drones behind — Maulana is one drone, then there are some members of the Sharif family, then there is Khawaja Asif whose statements five to six years ago on the floor of the house still rankle…”

“And on the other side of the fence The Khan is a drone, the dentist in the Presidency is a drone though that one is not armed, then…”

“Please revisit confrontational analysis definition…”

“I hereby declare you a drone as well.”

“Oh well that ends it all.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022