This is the second time that I am deviating from the light nostalgic theme of my column to begin this week’s piece on a serious note. I have of late been disturbed by a most serious turn of events. My concern and the motivation to take up the cudgel, stems from what is being said by three ministers of Mr. Nawaz Sharif’s inner cabinet.
I have tolerated (and so have hundreds of decent families), the comments that these ‘gentlemen’ have been spewing forth with regards to respectable female PTI supporters, who congregate at ‘D-Chowk’ every day in a show of solidarity with their leader. I know many of these ladies and their families, being an old resident of the Federal Capital. I also know that they come from sterling backgrounds, which is something I cannot vouch for when I see and hear our Minister for Railways and his cronies on television.
I am a firm believer that pedigree speaks, irrespective of whether one is rich or poor, powerful or weak. This belief flows from what my parents taught me. It stems from the irrefutable notion that a person’s character can be judged by the way he eats, and by the words he utters. I have no experience of ever supping with the trio in question (and I thank my Maker for this), but I am assured that words used by them to describe the atmosphere in the PTI sit in, are enough to label them as lacking even vestigial decency and dignity.
What galls me more is the fact that media anchors (barring those who espouse the Government point of view for reasons which can only be speculated), often touch upon this subject with guests belonging to PML-N and their likeminded parties, but fail to push the point home aggressively in a bid to generate a realization of what is being done. The families, who willingly walk to the old parade venue running the gauntlet of checkpoints and barriers manned by ruffian looking Punjab Police on a daily basis, are educated. It is perhaps for this very reason that none of them has so far sued the concerned politicians for ‘defamation of character’. I spoke to one family, who said that they were expecting the apex judiciary to take notice of what was being said and restrain the language of those using it.
I had always been of the opinion that Imran Khan should distance himself from the PAT leadership. My notion was based on the fact that PAT dynamics were totally different from the PTI’s, since the latter had a political role to play in a futuristic Pakistan. I am at a loss to say if the recent disclosure by the PAT Leader regarding the meeting with Khan Sahib in the UK, was a slip of the tongue or part of strategy, but it did no good to the PTI cause. To me, the statement came as no surprise as I have always considered the good doctor to be emotionally unpredictable.
Having got what I had to say off my chest, let me turn to the forthcoming Eid ul Azha and the possibility of both agitating groups performing the sacrificial ritual in situ. Optimistic sources are however predicting that at least one or both these groups might come to an acceptable solution in the next few days and perform the slaughtering of animals at their homes. If this does not happen, then I would urge the sanitation staff of the Capital Development Authority to gird up their loins for a massive cleanup job.

n    The writer is a historian.