“Ishaq Dar has DOG.” “I don’t think so – I mean if he had a pet we would have known right!” “How would you have known?” “Well you don’t leave a pet for five years.”
“Oh you mean the time he went AWOL during The Khan years when his house was taken over through a court order and…”
“In the military AWOL is Absent Without Official leave, so you really want to use AWOL?”
“Why the disbelief?”
“I don’t know of any accountant who can pass the medical to join the army. I mean there is Dar sahib, then there is Shabbar Zaidi sahib, then…”
“Indeed, different strokes for different people and the key addition to the proverb which is Pakistan specific at different times.”
“Ha ha, indeed, anyway, when I said Dar has DOG I was not referring to a dog, note all letters are in capital.”
“I didn’t notice, so D as in Development, O as in Own and G as in when in Government?”
“That’s defamation my friend, so I would retract immediately. Anyway DOG to me is Delusion of Grandeur.”
“Hey he is related by marriage to the Mighty Sharif, he was, perhaps still is, listened to more than to the brother who is the current prime minister…”
“And Brutus says he burnt the midnight oil to take the economy where it is today.”
“Don’t be facetious. Anyway Brutus as in Shehbaz Sharif because let’s be honest Shehbaz Sharif is neither Brutus nor Cassius nor Mark Antony nor…”
“How about Calpurnia the wife of the assassinated Julius Caesar?”
“Be respectful, all I wanted to say was that Shehbaz Sharif has yet to defy his older brother and time will tell which way the cookie crumbles but why do you reckon Dar has DOG?”
“During the golden jubilee of the senate, Dar in his speech, in English by the way reminding us of Jameela Massey’s accent in Mind Your language…”
“Oh shush, I know what you are referring to now: his statement that Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programme will never ever be allowed to be compromised…”
“Yes! I mean in what capacity did he make that statement?”
“As the man who cost the economy in lost remittances about 2 billion dollars by controlling the rupee rate, pushing up food inflation to 45 percent, unable to think out of the box and…”
“Still not being fired?”
“Viola!”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
