The problem with the rat race, they say, is that even when you win you are still a rat. However the rodents operating in Islamabad have no problems with such labels. We hear this new genre of deal makers have two distinctions. They are sons of VVIPs and they work as a consortium. They also make their moves in broad daylight with fond fathers pushing the right buttons in the corridors of power. And, of course, they count their blessings and profits every night. The case of a night club manager from Dubai landing the plum job of Chairman NLIC and then proceeding to do the deals that his young sponsors had put him there for, is one perfect rat model. When at least three deals, two touching the billion rupee figure, came to light and a proactive judiciary swung into action, the former night club manager ran like an athlete along with the son of a former minister leaving his dad to face the music without ratting on senior sponsors because that is exactly where his expertise lies. Meanwhile, the other two partners, son of a VVIP and son of a senior minister who could have been a VVIP, continue their journey in the land of opportunity. Another public corporation another deal, it is business as usual.
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Apparently, the collection drive for the flood-affected, as initiated by our missions abroad, has hit upon a basic policy snag. Our ambassadors have specified in no uncertain terms to all and every charged philanthropist and Good Samaritan offering his services that as desperate as our flood victims may be, the government will not accept used items. It happens to be a matter of national pride that we beggars can be choosers. We hear that piles of woolies, blankets and duvets (all in mint condition), collected by the student community in London, were rejected for this very reason. Funny, OXFAM the global charity that works in this area has no such hang ups and willingly accepts what is rejected by our highbrow diplomats. Our mission in Washington has gone a step further and very efficiently circulated this no used item policy to all its contacts. Stars and stripes make no mistakes. We may be spongers but we are very particular about the handouts we accept.
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We hear that the Faiz Ahmed Faiz family is keeping up the family tradition when entering the state of holy matrimony. When Faiz and Alice tied the knot in the forties, the Nikah-Khwan was the couples friend, the late Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah, grandfather of the present Omar Abdullah. When daughter Salima and Shoaib Hashmi married in the sixties, again the master of ceremonies was no local cleric but a renowned journalist, intellectual and family friend, Majid Malik .That formula has been adopted once again in the new millennium by the Faiz grand children. Recently, Salima’s son entered matrimony and the man performing his Nikkah was, not surprisingly, the seasoned journalist and human rights activist, I A Rehman. The shift from cleric to politician to intellectual is obviously a journey of love.
