“There is a disconnect between the rulers and the ruled.”
“If you are trying to say that Governor’s rule plus emergency was against the wishes of our Pushtun brethren then I feel sorry for you. Didn’t you see a man giving a, I think it was a gulab jaman, to another celebrating the….”
“Yeah I did why just the one and there I couldn’t see the box of sweets….”
“Oh well things are rather expensive these days what with the ongoing Middle East conflict that is spreading.”
“Oh thanks for letting me know, I thought it was because the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar sahib had, as chair of the Sugar Monitoring Committee allowed exports again and the resulting shortage…”
“Don’t be facetious, but I have one minor bone to pick with Dar sahib.”
“How minor is the bone?”
“Well it’s not in the spine or the legs but a phalange, a toe bone, without which you can easily….”
“Oh shush.”
“Anyway the bone I want to pick with him is that his instructions to refer to him as the Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and then his full name Muhammad Ishaq Dar takes about a minute for the news reader which means he gets more airtime every single day than the Prime Minister and even in newspapers….”
“What do you suggest?”
“I suggest synchronicity. I mean Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Mohsin Naqvi sahib has not given any such instructions so….”
“Remember Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade: Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.”
“I ain’t into poetry so anyway when I said there is a disconnect between the public and the rulers I was not talking about Pakistan. The massive protests in the US, the massive protests in France, the massive protests in Brussels and need I add the violent clampdown in the US, the UK, Germany….”
“Hush my friend, we not only borrow from them bilaterally but they are also on multilaterals boards and don’t forget we have the GSP Plus from the European Union which has increased our exports and…”
“Oh I forgot. Mum is the word.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026