This is what is meant by GOVERNING—–THE SICILIAN STYLE

There is nothing about this government that is not sinister. The latest act in this respect has been “the issuance from the Prime Minister’s office, of a strong condemnation of the remarks of the Panama case SC judges about the wild threats that the ruling party’s Senator and PM’s blue-eyed boy Nihal Hashmi had hurled at those who are engaged in the accountability of the PM’s son and family.
This condemnation has been attributed to an unnamed spokesperson and has been issued on an ordinary blank paper (to give it a non-formal status).
To me this method of attacking the judges is not any less sinister than the horrid and horrifying manner in which Nihal Hashmi had threatened the judges and the JIT members with the consequences of daring to engage in the accountability of the son of his beloved leader.
Those who have been following the events in this country, of these four years, should be aware of a ‘uniform pattern’ in the area of handling ‘the elements’ that are perceived as dangerous or threatening to the towering designs and ambitions of the ruling family. General Shuja Pasha was extensively vilified by the propaganda machinery of the N-League, with the objective of putting the Army onto defensive.
Then General Zaheer was targeted in quite an organized way to create an impression that behind all the ills of the country stood the ISI.
The successor to General Zaheer wasn’t spared either. As for General Raheel Sharif, he was subjected to a two-pronged strategy of image-tarnishing and vilification.
On the one hand he was projected as a threat to democracy and on the other hand presented as a commodity for sale.
It goes to the credit of the Sharif Raj that at least in appearance and perception the Army stands embarrassed and ‘cut-down-to-size’.
It is now the turn of the Judges to face the music. A handful of well-paid and well-fed media men are all that are required to plunge the judges into controversies, and to push the Judiciary against the wall.
This Nihal Hashmi missile fired at the families of those engaged in questioning the clean Image of the PM’s family is indeed something new in our politics. This certainly has been imported from Sicily.
At the moment Nihal Hashmi looks to be in ‘shambles’. But Mian doesn’t forget the services of those who prove their loyalty to him.
It will not be a surprise for me that (if MNS survives the present crisis) Nihal Hashmi may one day be sworn in as Governor of Sindh.
This is what is meant by GOVERNING—–THE SICILIAN STYLE.