“Faiz Hameed, former DG ISI, has reportedly entered the political arena.” “I hope he realises that the Queensbury rules will no longer apply.”

“Excuse me?”

“The Queensbury rules in boxing differed from the London rules in three important respects: (i) contestants wore padded gloves, (ii) one round consisted of three minutes of fighting and one minute of rest, and last but the most important (iii) any fighter who went down had to get up unaided within 10 seconds or else face a knock out.”

“Unaided hunh!”

“Indeed.”

“So even if the Queensbury rules are applied it would be difficult to win right?”

“Right, Mian sahib is in London with all his four children and wants to play by the Queensbury rules barring the unaided rule…”

“Ha ha, one observation: the two test balloons floated by Nawaz Sharif to test the waters, read applicable rules in this country…”

“Test balloons?”

“First a non-Sharif, Dar came back, and then a Sharif from the junior branch Suleman Shehbaz returned.”

“Hmmm, anyway testing the waters before he returns with his daughter makes me think Nawaz Sharif will not play by the London rules either – he wants padded gloves, and wants the other player weakened before his arrival so he can knock him out and…”

“Oh dear you get distracted so quickly. Going back to General recently retired Hameed…”

“Right he must realize that as the ISI Chief he was perhaps at a level a tad above the Prime Minister in terms of status quo power politics, while as a member of The Khan’s party he should think Jehangir Tareen, Aleem Khan, Faisal Vawda…”

“Why give examples of those who were ousted from the party, take the case of Khattack – he was an effective chief minister, he delivered Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to The Khan a second time and he was rewarded with the most toothless portfolio…”

“Ah but then look at The Buzz - raised to heights beyond his or anyone’s imagination.”

“There you go, besides let’s be honest if the retired General joins politics he can at best be given a portfolio…”

“As long as it’s not defense because I don’t think he would want that.”

“Interior?”

“Hmmmm, better but not good enough in the medium term.”

“Ambition are horses in our politics.”

“Don’t be facetious.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022