"Boucher asked Nawaz Sharif to back off, so proclaims a headline in a newspaper owned by the Punjab Governor."
"Can he do that?"
"The Americans are rather pushy people, especially those working under Bush and so yes I can well imagine that Boucher may have said this to Nawaz Sharif."
"And what did Nawaz Sharif say?"
"He said no he won't and went on with his favourite theme."
"That Musharraf is an anti-democratic force, which not even the Americans can deny, and that with him at the helm we can have no democracy, which given that Musharraf is no longer at the helm or has any powers is stretching the point a bit..."
"You think there is an element of revenge in Nawaz Sharif's stance?"
"Absolutely but I tell you revenge as an emotion that has ruled the actions of many a leader. Look at Rajiv Gandhi's non-action if you will in arresting the murder of Sikhs in Delhi after a Sikh assassinated his mother. For three days the Sikhs were hounded and massacred. I would call that revenge. Then there was Bush himself who went into Iraq against Saddam because the latter had constantly ridiculed his father."
"So it happens."
"Yes but I support Nawaz Sharif because I feel strongly that unless one general who oversteps the bounds of his duties is punished for a coup this black hole in our sporadic existent democratic history will remain."
"I guess, but since when did Americans start protecting people doing their bidding in foreign countries?"
"Well, since Bush I imagine. And this may end with Bush so Musharraf needs to get out of this mess while Bush is still in office."
"He says he is staying."
"He is not being sensible about it."
"Right, he has to come to terms with the fact that nobody but nobody wants him to stay."
"Except the most important human being according to Musharraf..."
"Bush is no longer..."
"I think in Musharraf's book he himself is the most important Pakistani ever."
"That certainly seems true."