these people change number plates with the government.. Aaj Zardaari kal nawaz sharif k baari …….

I fully supported Mush for many years despite many serious mistakes that he had been making after taking over power. I got disenchanted with him after 03 March 07 when he suspended CJ. I started hating him (I very rarely hate anybody) after he condoned the mayham at Karachi on 12 May at the visit of CJ to Karachi. I am a follower of Gandhi and Bertrand Russell. In my old age I got out of my comfortable house and recliner for the first time and took to streets of Islamabad in suppoort lawyer’s movement. In support of rule of law in Pakistan and what it entailed——-removal of Mush and reinstement of that drovy eyed CJ.
I did that so that my children could answer their children when they read about all this and asked their parents what did their grand father did when all this happened. I wanted my children to be able to satisfy their children that their grand father did all that he could do under the circumstances beside just crying. He used his pen to write in Washington Post and Gurdian to draw the attention of Americans and English to what was going on in Pakistan and then not satisfied also took to street shouting at the top of his voice for God sake for Christ sake let there be rule of law in Pakistan. Let there be rule of law in my country. Let there be rule of law for my countrymen. Let there be rule of law for my future generation. Give me rule of law or give me death. Give me death if you can’t give me rule of law. I don’t care if it is Mush as President or
drovy eye as CJ give me rule of law in the name of heavens. Give me rule of law. Give me rule of law. Give me rule of law. Give me ——–

I agree with most of what you have written. I have never been much interested in politics. It is only after the incident of 09 March that I started taking interest in what was happening in Pakistan. I feel Mush action of suspending the CJ was not correct. After that there were many opportunity for him to redeem the situation but he went on to make more mistakes one after the other. It was because of his action of 9 Mar and subsequent actions that he became a hated person.

I wouldn’t like to argue how best the lawyers movement should have been run. As you say there may have been a better way of achieving their objective.

However, one thing on which I will never budge till my dying day that our survival depends on rule of law in Pakistan. That is the right path which we will have to follow to survive. How we achieve that is a different matter which can be discussed further and argued about.

Sorry can’t write more because of flu. It is pleasures reading your comments on various issues.

I am a great admirer of your posts and look forward to reading them. I know we share the same point of view when it comes to many ills that plague this country and the so called ummah. However we do have our differences and we pretty much know what they are. Frankly, I don’t know the answere of what would have been. Neither do I know whether Rule of Law logic would prevail or fail. I do know that Zardari is not a gift out of vengeance, on the contrary he is a shrewed player who has out foxed his rivals, for now. He capitalized on the brilliant marketing by his wife in Washington and the dumbness of his allies. He got the NRO and the Presidency and to his credit, his present day critics on media are the ones who time and again proposed "Zardari Sahib khud kyoon sadr nahein bun jaatey". So he became.

In my opinion, the number one threat to the state of Pakistan is from religious extremists (now free agents) , long fed by our millitary to wage jihaads and keep political opponents in check. To counter them, the progressive forces seem to be divided, confused and firing randomely in the air, thus inadverdently aiding the forces of chaos. Despite the critics and obvious flaws, we had 8 years of progress and unlike Ayub Khan we also got much of the freedoms for which the leftist have struggled through out the 60′s and 70′s. We finally had free speech and private enterprise. That meant strength to the middle class and subsequent change. Mush’s reign was a source of strength to the middle classess through out the country, and for the first time in our history merit, public scrutiny and democracy did became viable. All that was required by the "intellectual" was to see the bigger picture, Iam sure a compromise would have happened after the CJ restoration. However, the tone of the movement was unreasonably aggressive spurred on by the right wing media / politicians, who unlike their counterparts are looking at the the bigger picture and long term goals. Personally, I feel the better option for Mush would have been to quit before Nov 3 but I don’t think he was thinking about himself when making those tough decisions and, believe me, its very easy to make the popular ones.

But that’s in the past, I might be wrong in my assertions and may be the salvation of this country relies on a one point agenda, without touching base with reality. Maybe we have hit the bottom socialy and politically, and as Mush has said about the current Pakistan situation in his recent interview:

"Yes, like hitting bottom. And I agree with you Daphne that after hitting bottom—maybe better things would happen."

Call me what you like. As far as I am concerned I really got sick and tired of Mush from 03 Nov 07 onward. So far Zardari has only made me sick from the day he became the president of Pakistan.
You know from Mush to Zardari is not a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. It is a case of falling from sky and getting stuck to a palm tree which is a better situation. Mush needed a much longer rope to hang himself. Zardari fortunaely wouldn’t need such a long rope.
As far as the person you are referring to as pseudo intellectual is concerned I know him personally. He may not be much of an intellectual but he certainly knows what the real problem of Pakistan is and how best to put it on the right path. I have never followed any movement in all my long life except his movement for restoration of CJ and establishment of rule of law in this wretched country.
Give me rule of law or give me death.