The Dependent, this paper’s satirical newspaper (and the more trusted of the two, we’re told) had a field day with Chaudhry Nisar this year.
‘Threw so many tantrums just to get your attention,’ whispers Nisar to Nawaz in one on one meeting.
And then there was the column that he “wrote” for The Dependent: I’m still mad at you, by the way.
One assumes the boyfriend in question would have explained how things were crazy busy at work right now and would have asked whether they could do this another time. And one also assumed that, in his head, he wouldn’t have been as calm (what, what, WHAT do you WANT?)
Be that as it may, the former interior minister went ahead with an infamous press conference.
The long overdue presser, “the most difficult of my career”, which kept on getting delayed because of the man’s back ache, came at an extremely critical, final stage of the Panama hearings.
After giving a spiel about how long he has served his party, he threw some shade to some of his colleagues in the cabinet. And then came what the public paid the ticket for, the pièce de résistance: the announcement of his decision to quit not just his portfolio but also his constituency the day the apex court reached a decision on the Panama case.
The awful communicator that he is, he had actually meant only the ministry, not the constituency, as was later clarified.
Throughout the Nisar saga, which stretches longer than this year, there was a belief that if the man jumps ship and joins his Aitchison buddy Imran Khan, he would bring with him a significant number of legislators. Those in the know within the League knew that, given the man’s churlish disposition, he wouldn’t even be able to manage a single legislator.
Whether it is an acceptance of his own limitations or a genuine loyalty to the party, Nisar has had a muted post-ministry profile. Barring some stinkers against his successor.
Shahbaz Sharif, whom Nisar is closer to, is set to become PM next year, so the Chakri man could make a comeback.
But his elder brother, we hear, has decided he is going to try to get out of this toxic relationship once and for all
