NAWAZ had done his best to keep the spotlight to himself ahead of the Supreme Court verdict that decides if he should stay or go. Yet his Minister of the Interior had other ideas. The curtain went up and the entertainer took a bow. Chaudhry Nisar was undoubtedly the star of this show. He chose his timing well. Despite claims of having been pressured into calling off this press conference time and again — he seemingly threw caution to the political wind and chose the eve of the expected deliverance of justice to have his say. And who can really blame him? According to the script, the last month-and-a-half saw him ghosted when it came to important cabinet meetings. What we saw as he addressed the watching and waiting media was a man very much in control of his image. As expected — he said he would wait until judgement day to tender resignation from his ministerial portfolio as well as his National Assembly seat. Yet ever the showman, Nisar played to the cheap seats for a full 45 minutes. The Nisar on display was a man of reason, a man of honesty, a man of humility. Or that is what he would have us believe. In reality, what Pakistanis were presented with was the country’s senior most leader acting like a jilted lover who had gathered all he and his partner’s mutual friends to get his side of the story in first. Or at least that was the impression he intended to give. We, at this paper, have tended to call the Interior Minister out over misplaced priorities such as safeguarding the image of our boys in khaki, one of the most professional armies in the world. Similarly, we have warned of his dangerous liaisons with certain banned sectarian outfits. Yet what we and the rest of the country saw during the presser, which Nisar described as the perhaps the most difficult of his political career, was a man very much in charge. Keeping to the script some might say. Rewriting his legacy, others might say. That he was careful to only lash out at party cadres and not the PM may or may not suggest that the entire spectacle was staged, scripted and choreographed by Nawaz himself. As payback for daring to speak out ‘publicly’ before the cabinet and advising his leader to see the writing on the wall and go. For the show must go on. And this was but a sideshow.* Published in Daily Times, July 28th 2017.