“What’s with our Brothers Karamazov?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a novel by Dostoevsky. The father Kamamazov, a rather wicked and boorish guy, has three sons – the impulsive Dmitiri, the rational Ivan and the red cheeked novice to the priesthood Alyosha…”

“Hmmm, if I recall the most quoted line of the novel is above all do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others.”

“Is that gender-specific? Though wait it doesn’t even apply to the leadership of the three national parties - or their progeny, and need I add only one party leader has a living spouse, The Third Wife.”

“You are right, it applies as much to the goose as to the gander. The goose could be Notification Maryam Nawaz (NMN), The Third Wife, and the ganders being daddy and…”

“Stop being facetious, anyway my take on the police uniform: NMN looked a lot better in that than in her usual clothes and I would advise her to adopt that style. I recall from history Atatürk’s wife got rid of the hijab though she did cover her head with a headscarf, but that was in the 1920s and…”

“Perhaps in the next photo session…”

“Oh, then we don’t have long to wait – probably later the same day, anyway other heads of government have also worn a uniform – we have North Korea’s Kim, Modi is another, Erdogan…”

“These guys’ democratic credentials are kind of weak.”

“Stop right there, NMN traversed a sea of fire to get where she is today, nothing to do with daddy, nothing to do with…”

“And that brings me to why I mentioned The Brothers Kamamazov. Dmitri in this instance is Cousin Hamza, he is amassing…”

“Wealth?”

“The other W - wives, I guess his DNA is…”

“Shush, then there is a bunch of Dmitris – Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and the guy who went from Ji (yes) to…”

“Leave Miftah Ismail alone – he was twice bitten in spite of the Ji – from The Samdhi to daddy to…”

“OK, and are there any Alyoshas in the party?”

“Can’t think of anyone - perhaps Aseefa Bhutto Zardari.”

“OK anyway I thought by Brothers Karamazov you were referring to the Brothers Umar – from being so close to the party heads to being summarily dumped by their leaders, what’s with their DNA?”

“Put a gag on yourself before others do unto you.”

“OK.”