We hear that a star-studded wedding of a media mogul’s daughter in Dubai some two weeks back was a litmus test for celebs and Pakistan’s politicians, especially the latter. President Musharraf was the one that drew the greatest crowd among “politicians” for that is the label that befits him most, now that he has a political party of his very own.
If this is the kind of warm response he gets at public gatherings then his belief and regular statements that he is “popular in Pakistan” are quite understandable. The fanfare at Dubai may just have contributed to his dream of landing in Pakistan to be greeted by a sea of banners and waving arms. In stark contrast, former PM Shaukat Aziz cut a lonely figure with no one approaching him for an opinion or a one-liner and that perhaps is why he stakes no claim to being a grassroots politician. As for Musharraf, we wait and see.
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When the info minister Ms Firdaus Ashiq Awan made her move with tears and put the PM’s favourite mandarin in her place, she did tell a few that she was peaked with a Gang of Four conspiring against her.
It included, we were told, a female bureaucrat. Ms Awan may have won that round with tears but it seems the other lady is back with a bang and this time it is another khaki bureaucrat who sits nursing his wounds.
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Being behind bars can be a life changing experience as most people have found but sometimes being restricted to an eight-star residence with all perks and no bills can also get to you. When Hussain Haqqani, previously our man in Washington or as some unjustifiably claimed ‘their’ man in the Pakistan Embassy, first came to Pakistan to appear before the Supreme Court in the memo case, he was heard saying loud and clear that he was ever willing to “live and die” for Pakistan.
A few days of confinement in the PM House and the man was being rescued by his advocate and the judiciary. More days and HH was heard issuing statements that “he could be killed if he came out of the PM house”. More weeks and it is a total change of heart. HH has now applied to be allowed to go out of the country. Obviously, our man in Washington is not willing to live in this country for fear that he may actually die here as his book Between the Mosque and Military did not endear him to the militants. One can only say to the PM House: Please release the prisoner.
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