"So what do you reckon?"
"Sartaj Aziz has ruled out cricket with India and..."
"Well, that's an encroachment on the prerogative of the one who shall remain nameless..."
"I thought Shaharyar Khan was running the show now."
"He is the front man but you know for a guy who led the Foreign Office for so long he is exhibiting a singular lack of diplomacy in his dealings and..."
"Our bureaucrats change their attitude as and when they change their hats."
"I wasn't aware that he did change a hat - as Secretary Foreign Office he was getting instructions from the establishment and as the head of Pakistan Cricket Board he is also getting instructions from someone."
"Hey, leave Shaharyar Z Khan alone!"
"Z as in what? We don't have middle names..."
"Shaharyar Zimbabwe Khan."
"Don't be facetious, but anyway that's not what I was referring to when I asked what you reckoned?"
"Oh, I know what you meant - you were referring to the irony that the man who signed an affidavit in front of a magistrate that he engaged in money laundering for the Sharif family of Raiwind is now responsible for drafting the law on money laundering."
"Drafting a law for or against money laundering?"
"Don't be facetious. But jokes aside who is the best man to draft a law to end money laundering I ask you?"
"Well, Dar Sahib says that he signed the document under duress."
"You know you have to give marks to Musharraf's team."
"For getting Dar sahib's confession?"
"No, for getting him to sign the affidavit in front of a magistrate and...yes I know magistrates were probably not aware of the torture that Dar sahib had to undergo before he signed it and..."
"Yeah, yeah but when I asked what you reckoned I was actually referring to the outcome of NA-122 by elections."
"Ayaz Sadiq versus Aleem Khan or Nawaz Sharif versus Imran Khan?"
"Depends on who you ask, for the Khan's party its NS versus IK but for the PML-N its AZ versus IK."
"Protocols, hunh!"