"Nawaz Sharif hath spoken."
"I heard. He has urged the NRO beneficiaries to resign."
"What did he say about the President?"
"He was silent."
"I see, so one can only infer that he was including the President."
"Or that he did not include the President."
"Right, nice thing about inference: it can go either way."
"Politically astute don't you think?"
"Yes, but it no doubt ratcheted up the pressure on the President to deal with the seventeenth amendment."
"Right. So the term friendly opposition remains?"
"Indeed, but I would add another term to our political system."
"What?"
"Antagonistic coalition partner."
"Our poor President: he can't focus on dealing with one party at a time any more."
"The time that he could deal with each party individually he squandered so it's his own fault. I am referring to his initial deal with Nawaz Sharif which he reneged on, his refusal to deal with ANP in Sindh though he needs them in the Centre, now more than ever, his party's disenchantment with the coalition partner in Sindh as reflected in statements in the Sindh Assembly and his own personal need to have MQM on his side in the Centre which is leading to alienation of the jiyalas in Karachi and..."
"But Nawaz must be realistic: how can the jiyalas resign from the Cabinet? I mean if Rehman Malik resigns then who will keep the lines of communication with MQM open, certainly not Zulfikar Mirza or Nabeel Gabol or..."
"Dr Asim has no portfolio...why can't Malik accept that?"
"I don't know."
"What about the others? Babar Awan..."
"The poor guy is sick. Surely this is not the time to tell him he is fired: his health may take a turn for the worse as a result."
"How about the guy who likes to quote poems but cannot manage to remember the words?"
"Can you imagine what firing that poor chap would do to his confidence? I mean really! You are so heartless."