Often, I take jabs at the politician who is frequently seen spilling beans about the “inside scoop” on the idiot box. The anchors hungry for eyeballs want him on their shows so that he could give them the “exclusive,” and the date when the ritual of “sacrifice” would take place. The gentleman tries to provide the much-needed comic relief about political happenings every night. With his rather unique style, mannerism and punchlines, he is always able to entertain the audience. He is all praise for “men in uniform,” and has also served in the past under the set-up of the former president, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. The gentleman, often in a flow, says a few things that are solid gems. Satire and jabs aside, one of his statements resonated with me when I read the latest news on my Twitter timeline. Without quoting the exact statement, it encapsulates the essence of the situation that permeates our country, and in particular, the city where I spent the formative years of my life. The “City of Lights” has undergone many operations in the few decades that are still fresh in many memories. It may perhaps go through a few more in the years to come. The operations are meant to eradicate the ills of crime, and restore the much-needed law and order. This wishful thinking goes on, as if the Rangers are meant for such situations, and trained to act as civilian law enforcement personnel. The premise is flawed because men in uniform go through a different training that is primarily to foil external threats. To use men in uniform in the largest metropolis of the country to restore order is a tacit admission of failure by the civilian law enforcement agencies. Every operation is launched as a desperate measure and as a last resort. If you end up repeating the same last resort for many years, it says a lot about civilian governance. Before any such operation, politicians show their undying solidarity with the operation, and try to outdo one another in welcoming men in uniform. The civilian administration outlines the scope of the operation, and the operation is launched with a great fanfare. Once the operation is launched, all bets, typically, are off, and the civilian administration acts helpless, at times clueless, and hapless. Based on their training and modus operandi, when men in uniform do an all-out operation, some politicians end up facing real heat. The current operation that has been heartily hailed for restoring peace in the City of Lights has resulted in predictable political rumblings. It is also very obvious that political parties with the greatest stakes in the port city are the recipients of the attention of the people in charge of the operation. Most politicians sound like a bunch of dimwits, first failing to do their job properly, and without planning and training a robust police force. Then there is failure to enforce, prosecute and incarcerate criminals without fear or favour. When the hammer starts to come down, and in any and every direction, the same politicians are heard complaining about the “operation being politicised” or the “operation not being impartial.” One can dismiss these rumblings as a natural reaction, but at the same time, one cannot just completely ignore it all as fabricated. “Big Brother in London” and his party are at the receiving end yet again. The powers to be are not mincing any words through their presumed mouthpieces on the tube. One can settle for that as well, provided there is solid evidence and effective prosecution. Instead, there has been a malicious smear campaign against Big Brother and his party. The guardians of physical and ideological frontiers have used the time-tested and time-failed card of labelling Big Brother and some of his close colleagues as “traitors.” For such an earth-shattering discovery, one cannot send accolades to some local agency. The police department of London known as the Scotland Yard was kind enough to share this major breakthrough. This too came to fore when the Scotland Yard went to question Big Brother while investigating another case. From that point onwards, there have been “leaks” as and when required. No one wants to openly admit it, but the self-proclaimed pundits of the tube have stated that a newly formed political party — which has a particular liking for the national flag and a phrase of the national anthem — has the blessings of the angels. The “clean party” was launched to provide a safe haven to deserters. It came in with a roaring thunder to start a mass movement, and after a few months, was either signalled to slow down, or has reached its maximum when it comes to attracting the dissidents. After almost nine years of the carnage of May 12, 2007, the mayor-designate from Big Brother’s party has reportedly been linked to that incident. This is being peddled as a major revelation, and the angel-friendly pundits are adding more and more ingredients to that. No matter what the revelation is, no matter what the exposé is, no matter what allegation is levelled, come any election day, and the people still line up to vote for the same people. This may defy conventional wisdom and rational thinking, but in our political set-up these things rarely matter. What matters the most is: do you look and talk like me or not? Can I relate to you? Do you copy me? So after this successful operation to the next one, these band-aids will be used over and over again. You may call it certain limitations or certain realities, whatever label you would like to use. I would say that this bandage fix would go on for a while as and when it is necessary. The writer is a Pakistani-US mortgage banker. He can be reached at dasghar@aol.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar