Prime Minister speaks out his mind through his Foreign Minister-in-the-waiting

The newly ‘projected’ PML(N) leader Rana Afzal was a picture of arrogant confidence last night in the programme of Dr Danish on Channel 92. Since about six weeks he has been talking in a tone that doesn’t fail to suggest that he has been told by the Prime Minister: “If I ever choose to have a full-time Foreign Minister, you can regard yourself as not only a hopeful but also a front-runner. I have been looking for a loyalist who is as ‘no-holds-barred’ as Khwaja Asif.”
There is no denying ‘the special kind of competence’ of Rana Afzal. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif regards him highly. He is an avowed critic of Pakistan Army’s ‘over-inflated’ role in the country’s security.
“These generals have a habit of crossing the red line”, Rana Afzal believes. “They should be handled with stick.”
A typical hawkish statement that brought Rana Afzal into prominence in Mian Sahib’s kitchen cabinet was: “If these generals try to derail democracy Americans are going to transform Pakistan into Tora Bora.”
It was this statement that earned Rana Afzal a prestigious trip to France to ‘enlighten’ the government and the people there about the Kashmir cause. Last night answering a question by Dr. Danish, Rana Afzal disclosed that while he was in the process of explaining the ‘delicacies’ of the Kashmir cause to his audience in France, he was bluntly told that Pakistan was harbouring terrorists in the garbs of non-state actors. Precisely why it became imperative for the government to mastermind the much maligned leak the purpose of which was essentially to convey to the world that Nawaz government was aware of its responsibilities regarding non-state terrorists and was trying to take all necessary steps, in this respect despite the Army’s patronization of the ‘rogue’ elements.
“All this hue and cry about the leak and the breach of national security is malicious and unfortunate. These things happen routinely everywhere” said Rana Afzal disdainfully and arrogantly.
While listening to Rana Afzal I had no doubt that he was speaking out the mind of the Prime Minister. He was conveying to the Army: “This is not October 1999. This is October 2016. We are ready to take on your over-inflated might. We will pick your new chief at will, and make him behave.”