Sir: Of all the emperor’s mounted knights, it is the baggage man who is rattling his rusty saber this time around. Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s specialty had been to strike shoddy deals in the dusky backyards of power and then act like the fire brigade dousing fires of dissent among the power elites.
This kind of man does not carry a saber nor challenges others for a duel. He merely and must always seek a humble audience. But Nawaz Sharif’s retainers can spring ugly surprises. Dar Sahib has just done one such thing, if the media reports are to be believed. He is reported to have taken a deep breath and declared bravely, ‘let the Panama verdict come, we will see’, and that ‘every verdict is remembered for centuries’.
It is rare but when the mice roar they make a perfect monkey of themselves. A man who makes a confessional statement of hundreds of pages in one go before an ordinary magistrate ought to be careful daring justices of the Supreme Court. Already a lot of damage has been done reckless media hitmen like Abid Sher Ali,Talal, Danyal Aziz, Saad Rafique and that little mocking bird Maryam Aurangzeb. Mr Dar forgot that a circus joker cannot become a matador even though both are colorfully dressed alike in skin tight attires.
None of them seems to realise that those in authority who show composure in the face of unsolicited provocation, strike back with devastating effect. This vociferous pack will hurt more the very master they hope to serve with their sharp tongues.
MEHBOOB QADIR
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