"The President really had a lot to say recently."
"Indeed, in no uncertain terms he warned the Balochi tribesmen not to attack the country's gas pipelines."
"If I remember correctly he said, 'Don't push us. This is not the Seventies...they will not even know what has hit them.' Seventies if you remember was when the Balochis were attacked by the country's forces, of which the Baloch are a part, and apparently the President thought it ended well then."
"It is no longer the time to attack your own people...the world has changed..."
"What about Kashmir? What about Palestine? What about the Chechens? Besides people also said in 1999 that the world would not accept a military dictator. Anyway don't forget there was thirty years peace in Balochistan which is a lifetime right. But as I said before the President threatened the tribesmen rather baldly."
"Indeed he did. So what happened to all those exhortations to Bush and Poodle that the origins of religious militancy are political in nature and need to be resolved at a political level."
"That was for foreign consumption only. At home he threatens and attacks. Remember Waziristan."
"But the Baloch shouldn't destroy state property."
"No, they shouldn't. And now that we don't have a Baloch Prime Minister there is no one to negotiate with them."
"Only threats and more threats."
"Who else threatened them? I mean isn't the President's word law?"
"Indeed, it is but the Minister for Misinformation put in his two cents worth and stated that the miscreants will be dealt with an iron hand."
"But why can't they ask Jamali to mediate again. Isn't that a much better solution to the whole thing?"
"Yes, it is but Jamali may refuse to come on board. I mean the guy was kinda humiliated and all that rubbish."
"Better be humiliated by the power that be than to have the respect of those without power."
"Who said that?"
"I did."
"Since when have you begun to coin new idioms?"
"Since I became adept at Pakistani politics.