White Lies

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Style, they say, is the man or woman himself. Is it, as the PM Gilani family interprets it, running around to beauticians in motorcades, indulging in retail therapy with underpaid security personnel escorting bulging shopping bags to official cars and babysitting them all the way to the PM House? Can style be interpreted as building a Rs. two crore security wall around the Gilani haveli in Multan, billing it to an emaciated exchequer and then expecting the nation to be charmed by coiffured looks and state financed home improvements? Maybe not! Or does real style simply lie in driving out of the Lahore Governor House in your private car with a smile instead of war paint, minus a bevy of gunmen to siren VIP status? Well either you have it or you dont. The first lady of the governor certainly has it but another family could still get it with some serious effort and of course major cuts in the expense account and freebies.

Is the Man of UAE now the Man for All Seasons? This businessman from Rahim Yar Khan was a vital member of the Chaudhry camp when the Chaudhrys were in the power house. His private jet and other services were theirs for the asking. However, the political season changed and so did he. He has now resurfaced as a VIP in the Sharif camp and is often sighted in and around Raiwind. As rumour has it, he sweetened the revived relationship by making major contributions to the Sharif philanthropic projects. We think the Iqbal Z. Ahmeds and Warraich minors have a lot to learn from this one.

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You can fire a minister for chanting we want equal share in everything even corruption but you cannot kill an idea that is here and picking pace. Word has it that this philosophy is at the heart of the Bar and Bench debacle. Apparently the District and Session Judge, now branded villain according to the LBA President and his groupies, had the onerous task of recruiting a 100 or so peons, clerks and naib kasibs. And that through a transparent process of written exams and interviews. The LBA president, however, felt that monopolies would not be tolerated and that he should get at least a 50% quota of jobs for his boys, never mind the merit hocus pocus. The judge refused, made a written complaint to the Lahore CJ. The Black coats were outraged and the rest, well, is history.

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The rising star on the political horizon may be Imran Khan but not to be ignored is a starlet emerging in the PML (N) ranks. Rumour has it that NS may not be betting on his sons coming into politics but as for daughter Maryam, now that is quite another story. We hear the lady, an Abaji favourite, is following the Imran Khan formula. It is social work (managing the Ittefaq welfare projects), a sound education (a PhD in the pipeline maybe), good looks and some stardust. The lady also has a ready-to-wear political party which could incite the Khan to say Now thats not cricket!

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