Well here is some real bad news for TV anchors and chat show hosts hoping to get a kiss-and-tell interview with General Pasha, the outgoing ISI chief. Apparently, the general has refused point blank to appear before TV cameras and have secrets and facts grilled out of him, interrupted only by a sea of advertisements. We hear that he has turned down several requests and for good reason.
Besides not wanting to have his dignity stripped by sensationalism, he has a better plan to put across his version of history. Word has it that he intends to write his memoirs in which no doubt there will be chapters, among others, on the Abbottabad incident and Memogate. Step aside, TV anchors. It is publishers that are now making a beeline for the general.
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We hear that last week the Indian delegation here in Lahore to celebrate the life of a Punjabi freedom fighter, the late Bhagat Singh, and also to bury memories of wars fought between two neighbours, got involved in another war raging in Lahore at the time. Apparently their arrival coincided with the “designer lawn war” unleashed by the textile industry in Pakistan.
The female Indian delegates were seen shopping like crazy at a store in Lahore’s Liberty Market and later at the PFDC outlet in Gulberg. However, though the “Lawn war” is attracting Indian clientele, it does seem that PFDC despite its elegant decor fails miserably to meet some essential requirement, a well-greased credit card processing facility being one of them. There were several hitches before Indian shoppers managed to pay their bill with plastic money.
However, the lawn war turned into lawn diplomacy. It worked; thanks, of course, to the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
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We hear that the Ahmed Riaz Sheikh clan keeps slipping in favour with the presidency. Now it is the son and whiz kid, a “special assistant” in the hallowed corridors, who invites disapproval on the female company he keeps.
The lady from Karachi, though an important PPP member and office bearer, is considered “unsuitable”. She was spotted at a family wedding, fuelling more rumours. The Big Boss noticed and registered his disapproval. Apparently, the special assistant is not quite a big boy yet.
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