"You must appreciate the precedence set by the Zardari clan."
"Excuse me? Is this an underhanded attack against the party head?"
"No, I really appreciated the fact that President Zardari, his daughter Asifa and his sister Faryal were smiling as they received the new Prime Minister and the President accorded the Prime Minister-elect - at that time he hadn't taken oath - the protocol of receiving him at the gate..."
"I am taking exception to your comment about the Zardari clan."
"Oh dear!"
"I know why you said it, you anti-PPPP person and that not good."
"I said it in the same spirit as the speech delivered by Amin Fahim who really was not gracious and did not even circumspectly refer to the intelligence agencies support leading to PML (N) victory at the polls."
"Fahim is out of practice, he has been sidelined for so long by his own party..."
"And then Fahim said the agreement on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline must be implemented, and this agreement was during the last week of the Raja-led government."
"I saw Raja and Gilani at the oath-taking ceremony, they kind of didn't look very prime ministerial in spite of the fact that Gilani was wearing a suit that was over one lakh rupees at least and Raja is Raja."
"What do you mean?"
"Raja can wear a 2 lakh rupee suit and it would look like a suit picked up from lunda bazaar."
"That's not fair, the Raja had coloured his hair and had ironed all his clothes... by the way where was Rehman Malik?"
"Maybe his security detail thought his security would be compromised if he attended the ceremony."
"His security or that of everyone else?"
"Don't be facetious. Who amongst the PPP leadership at the ceremony looked prime ministerial?"
"Nargis Sethi, she is the only one who requested the President's permission three times to proceed with the oath-taking ceremony."
"Three times, that's how often you need to say I divorce you for it to be effective."
"Don't be facetious."