"Is the deal between Nawaz Sharif and Musharraf legally admissible?"
"Who drafted it?"
"The same guy who drafted the reference against the CJ would imagine."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, it's a bum deal for Musharraf. It benefits Nawaz Sharif in that it agrees that he is to leave the country on medical grounds and then it also agrees that the government will not charge him with crimes associated with Musharraf's plane ride home from Sri Lanka ever again."
"So no out for the government..."
"There was an out only as long as the President could control the judiciary. I think he needs lawyers who can come up with advice that would benefit him not when he rules as a dictator - he needs no one then - but when his power is being challenged from all sides."
"To be fair to the judiciary, Nawaz Sharif didn't appeal the deal before, I think."
"I don't know for sure either but Musharraf could and did order Shahbaz Sharif to be sent back to Saudi Arabia on the return flight a year or so ago if you remember."
"I remember but I don't think the Sharif Brothers went to the courts..."
"Perhaps not, though I thought they did."
"So now what! Emergency or no emergency?"
"I don't think the mood of the Pakistani public was akin to what Musharraf saw in October of 1999."
"You think he has backed off for good."
"For now at least but he knows he cannot stay on unless he imposes emergency."
"And that is good for the country?"
"I saw this rather naive analysis on CNN yesterday. That without Musharraf there would be turmoil and...his departure won't be good for Pakistan."
"That would mean the reporter has been totally convinced by Musharraf's propaganda - hey, even American think-tanks have begun to challenge that premise."
"I thought western journalism..."
"Has been kinda exposed post Iraq war...that is why we have Al Jazeera and now the much more credible Pakistani channels..."
"Well, Pakistani reporters know more about the domestic situation."
"So what can we expect now?"
"Musharraf must have some other cards up his sleeve - and if BB is the only card then she may come all alone with all her party members abandoning her."
"See the problem with ruling from exile...you can become irrelevant."
"Indeed...politics in this country is changing and from where I am sitting they are changing for the good."