For the high jump
Even The Great Khan’s closest colleagues are having misgivings about their leader’s state of mind. They go into huddles, divided as they are into numerous factions, and whisper under their breath about who’s for the chop next. Popular opinion in Isbad has the Sheikh of Lal Haveli singled out for the high jump. They say he’s flapping about trying to save his ministry but that The Great Khan has had enough of all his bluster and no action (look who’s talking!)
Another important cog in the wheel who may be coming loose is the youthful looking national security guy. They say he ostensibly returned to the motherland to look after his ailing father and then answered the call of national duty. This was at the behest of The Boyz, we hear, but since delivery has been patchy (the US continues to cold shoulder Pakistan), the youthful one may soon be shown the door, enabling him to attend to his original plan – looking after pater.
Pall of gloom
But the thing that has cast a pall of gloom over The Great Khan’s conclave is the short shrift meted out to SA, the government’s erstwhile accountability Czar. Immediately after his sacking, there was a cabinet meeting and it was on many minds that The Great Khan would surely say a word or two in remembrance of SA. Not a bit of it. Worse, many ministers thought about it but no one had the guts to mention SA or to mouth a few platitudes about their departing colleague. Many left the meeting sickened to the stomach, we hear. If The Khan could cut off as important a collaborator as SA without a care, a minister confided to a friend, lesser mortals had no hope of a dignified exit, should they fall foul of their leader.
