"Our Deputy Prime Minister did not accompany the Prime Minister to Karachi."
"I heard he was not well, reportedly he got his secretary to cancel his scheduled meetings in Karachi and the Secretary said he was calling from the hospital."
"Secretary, as in his personal assistant, or secretary as in the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance?"
"You are being facetious right?"
"Yes, though mind he loves to control all the surveys and the proof of that pudding is in his chairmanship of 35 or so committees."
"But you know it also shows the importance of committees to the PML-N government. Remember the old proverb a camel is a horse designed by a committee?"
"Yes, but not applicable in the case of our politicians; a more Pakistan specific proverb would be a lion is a monkey designed by a committee..."
"You should stay away from making proverbs: a camel and a horse are from the same family while a lion and a monkey are not."
"A lion reflects the party's view of itself, the arrow of PPP - again reflects the party's image of itself namely occupying a place in our hearts, a cricket bat for the PTI is kind of not as imaginative but it is not a status quo party, and the monkey is us common folks so from the lion to the monkey..."
"You are being facetious."
"I guess anyway the purpose of a deputy is to enable the top office holder, in this case the prime minister, and his deputy to cover more ground as it were."
"That is applicable when the deputy is from another party, though mind you, I don't recall Chaudhry Pervez Elahi following this route, he just had the title and nothing else..."
"But Dar sahib doesn't have the title."
"Right, which is why he dogs the footsteps of his leader!"
"Ah I get it, you reckon Mian sahib did not want to take Dar sahib to Karachi as he wanted to go with the Chief of Army Staff..."
"Don't be silly, if a factor other than illness is applicable and granted that Dar sahib did not look ill and came on several television shows, then Dar sahib didn't go because his nemesis Chaudhry Nisar can't win a march on him by accompanying the prime minister as he is on a foreign tour."
"And that to me is political astuteness, I mean its not ass if he can steal a march on the PM or the CoAS though a march can be stolen from Chaudhry Nisar."