"The world is changing."

"Indeed, the leader of the free world is being impeached with more than 50 percent of Americans now in favour of this drastic measure and this may have prompted President Trump to back off from his earlier decision to have the G-7 summit on one of his properties where he would have benefited financially..."

"Look at the glass as half full."

"I thought for us the glass is half full with Trump, he likes our Prime Minister while Obama's drone strikes and his lies about Raymond Davis being a diplomat, a man who killed Pakistanis in broad daylight..."

"Water under the bridge my friend. Move on. Anyway I meant it more literally; Nawaz Sharif never offered visiting foreign heads of government a stay in Raiwind or Zardari sahib a stay in Bilawal houses all over the major cities of this country; or The Khan offering Bani Gala..."

"If they had been offered appropriate remuneration..."

"Don't be facetious, anyway The Khan offered his official residence to those who lent us over one billion dollars..."

"I thought the figure was 3 billion dollars - Saudi Crown Prince, the UAE and Qatar..."

"I am not sure, but I think the UAE and Qatar have yet to meet their pledges fully. Besides what I meant when I said the world is changing is..."

"Let me guess, The Khan is doing exactly what his predecessors did; praising his government's economic policies and need I add only the programme designers, notably the IMF, and the implementors, the two men who left their cushy jobs outside the country to return to Pakistan..."

"And that's what The Khan promised didn't he? That people would leave their jobs abroad and return to the country...."

"Don't be factious; when I said the world is changing I meant look at Catalonia which wants independence from Spain, look at Scotland that wants another referendum to break away from the UK, a move resisted by the UK government, look at the riots in Chile and Lebanon against their governments austerity measures...."

"Hmmm... if you are implying that our economic policies are geared towards austerity then you are mistaken, the government with the IMF's blessing has increased its expenditure by more than 40 percent while it is you and me that have to tighten our belts..."

"You gotta pay taxes..."

"I was already paying taxes, now I have to take on the burden of government profligacy as well as incompetence in not being able to sell its reforms to the people."

"The Khan's Wasim Akram..."

"Is as responsible for the deaths in Punjab due to dengue and the massive rise in costs of householders suffering from dengue as...as... as the Shahbaz Sharif government was for the Model Town tragedy."

"The Buzz is not the Health Minister..."

"The buck stops with him as he is the chief executive."

"No my friend, the buck must stop with the Prime Minister."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019