"Dar's decision to continue to hold the finance portfolio shows you were right about him all along."
"Well, I never got personal - I mean I never accused him of lack of integrity, I only said having passed an accounting exam in the UK does not indicate knowledge of economic theory, and I requested that he informs us, the public, which accounting firm he was articled to - there are some international accountancy firms and then there are two man accountancy firms and given that he lived with the Kazi family while in London shows to me that he was with a small firm where he couldn't afford to rent his own place and..."
"Stop, I was referring to his retaining the portfolio when he has made such a hash of the economy and to argue that this is because of the Panama papers doesn't hold water as the current account deficit began to become extremely worrisome last year, his reliance on heavy borrowing from abroad and I include equity borrowing (Eurobonds and sukuk) at rates well above the market are his decisions that have left us in the state we are in today."
"So I hear Ahsan Iqbal is off to attend the World Bank/IMF annual meeting though seriously I know Dar attended these meetings but there is no benefit to attendance other than to get your government to pay for your trip and to live in a five-star hotel in Washington..."
"Don't say that!"
"Why not? I mean attendance has never ever got us any concessions, that takes place during meetings with the staff and foreign investment has not been forthcoming from these meetings either and..."
"That's not why I am cautioning you to be quiet."
"You reckon Dar was disallowed to attend the annual meeting rather than his deciding not to attend?"
"I am not sure but to be fair to Dar there is some evidence to suggest that the Nawaz Sharif family wants him to retain the portfolio so he remains under their control otherwise he may reactivate the affidavit though I suppose one can't play ping pong with affidavits - you know sign it one day, and withdraw it another and then sign it again..."
"Hmmm, Dar sahib reportedly went to see Maryam Nawaz at her samdhi's (parents of the spouse of your child) in Islamabad..."
"Oh, I thought he went to participate in the Annual Samdhi Ball that Maryam's samdhi had given..."
"Don't be facetious; anyway, when I stopped you from saying that attending World Bank annual meetings achieves nothing I was referring to the heightened sensibilities of Ahsan Iqbal these days, recently he announced he would resign as Interior Minister if the Rangers didn't let him enter the court where Nawaz Sharif..."
"That was because he had two other ministries - planning and development and finance."
"Now who is being facetious!"