White Lies

We hear that former President Musharraf has been preoccupied lately with the possibility of returning to Pakistan and throwing in his bit into the political cauldron. Since his arrest warrants issued back home are a major obstacle in his plans, he has been looking at various options.

Apparently, he contacted Jeddah and asked that it lean on Islamabad to ensure that the general would not be put behind bars on arrival. After all they did play a role in salvaging Nawaz Sharif from a Pakistani prison and possibly from the gallows. Jeddah, so the story goes, has assured Musharraf that he would be provided security in Pakistan but cannot guarantee that he would not be arrested.

Word has it that the former President, once a Washington darling, has contacted several US congressmen to get the same pre arrest assurance but with no luck. Unfortunately, his former American mates have no interest in preventing Musharraf from becoming an inmate.

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Some dishes are symbols of political match fixing or so we are told. It is understood that an invitation to Mian Nawaz Sharif’s Raiwind estate and partaking of aalo gosht or nihari there means that the invitee or caller has been taken into the hearth and home of this political clan. With the Chaudhrys of Gujrat the muragh cooked in all its variations, is an important sign of acceptance. In one hotly contested election, a rival shoe industrialist’s success was actually attributed to his strategy of out-smarting the Chaudhrys with his spread of chicken dishes.

Well, now Altaf Bhai too has his symbolic dish of acceptance. People breaking bread with MQM are asked to have haleem at 90. In fact, after the release and departure of Moonis Elahi, the Chaudhry brothers requested that they pay the ritual respect to 90. They were promptly asked to reinforce the bond by joining the MQM clan in partaking of the symbolic haleem. And they did.

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Imran Khan’s jalsa at Minar-e-Pakistan last week has every one buzzing about the event. We hear that many out of job politicians, sitting on the fence, while keeping their eyes on opinion polls, have decided that this was better than any formal opinion poll. They are jumping to his side. However, while The Khan may think that his charisma, his record as a high achiever and now this jalsa are his major assets, he may be overlooking another major factor in his growing popularity. Apparently, Zaman Park, the symbol of Imran’s Jallundhri Pathan heritage, has another major asset. It is the outgoing women of Zaman Park and there are a huge number of them. Move over Jemima, these ladies have sprung into action and are working like an effective propaganda machine, spreading the Imran message.

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