“So, I hear four prospective investors have been shortlisted for PIA privatization.”
“Have their names been shared?”
“Hmm, let’s see there was a Dar and a Sharif…”
“Oh no Sharif Dar or Dar Sharif?”
“Back the hell off – there are Dars all over the place, last I recalled an Usman Dar was not even a third cousin twice removed…”
“Well, there are Bhutto Zardaris, so I thought…”
“The Sharifs don’t think like the Bhutto Zardaris – there maybe, let’s say a Naila Nawaz Sharif…”
“Naila is such an old-fashioned name, so not likely I reckon.”
“Don’t be facetious, besides when I mentioned Sharifs you know that is a common last name in this country – there is a Muzaffar Sharif…”
“Who the hell is that? Never heard of him.”
“He lives next door to me.”
“You being facetious?”
“No I am merely pointing out to you that you shouldn’t assume I am being sarcastic against any family because I am not, Sharif surname is as common here as say Brown is in the Anglo-Saxon world. And the same goes for Dar.”
“Right so four prospective PIA investors have been shortlisted but then didn’t I hear that 75 percent of PIA shares will be sold, so my question is why limit the sale to the four, why not put it on the stock market so that even an Usman Dar can buy one share if you know what I mean.”
“Oh, so then who would ruin the show?”
“The shareholders will elect a management that will run the show.”
“But even an Usman Dar will be able to put a spanner in the works, so no, thank you.”
“Why would he? He would compromise his own profit.”
“PIA’s days of profitability…”
“Hopelessness is next to…”
“Gotcha, I stand corrected.”
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