"I don't believe it, you get into trouble because you block the motor cavalcade of the Finance Minister! And since when does a Finance Minister merit a cavalcade, for Pete's sake."
"You do both, that is, block his motorcade and provide him with a motorcade when he does the impossible."
"There is nothing impossible about what he has done. I mean the budget allocates more for defence than ever before and personally I find that sad. I mean the only times we were able to keep defence expenditure constant from one year to the next was when we had a military man at the helm...seems like we can't even do that any more."
"Hey, Musharraf may not be a military man after December 31, if, that is, he keeps his promise to the Maulanas."
"If wishes were horses..."
"In Pakistan beggars have been riding for quite awhile, my friend...don't you read the newspaper?"
"What are you referring to?"
"Former Jiyalas and Nawalas turning sanctimonious about democracy and adherence to principles. Isn't that almost like beggars learning to ride?"
"There has been one recent resignation and that too from a member of the provincial assembly and the mother of the...ah, I get it..."
"About time my friend..."
"Anyway to give credit to Shaukat Aziz he said he didn't mind the 15 Jiyalas blocking his path as they have a right to express their displeasure at his economic policies..."
"Is that why he has been steadily taking back a lot of taxes that he announced in the budget?"
"No, that is because those with power are getting finicky, to say the least - I mean you have heard of people's power after all even though we don't get to see it too often."
"Sometimes I wonder why they don't do the consultations prior to the budget announcement. I mean wouldn't that be easier?"
"No. See each year they hope that the public will accept taxes, well, not quite the public, the pressure groups within; anyway when they don't then they hastily withdraw the tax or lower it or whatever."
"Doesn't this do weird things to the deficit?"
"Of course but that is OK as we can launch another anti-terrorist attack and force the donors and bilaterals to give more money and back off from demanding repayments on past loans."
"Ah, the perfect marriage between the begging bowl policy...ooops sorry, Mr. Finance Minister, I meant economic policy and foreign policy."