The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the federal government are fighting once again on a familiar bone of contention -- the implementation of the controversial Hasba Bill that the NWFP Assembly passed last month. The assembly had sent the draft to Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, whose assent would make it a law of the province.

According to legal experts the governor would be violating the constitution by returning the bill or not signing the draft within one month. However, the federal government came to his rescue by moving the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the bill. The government requested the apex court to stop the provincial government from establishing a parallel administrative system. The court barred the MMA government from implementing it on December 15 as well as directed the governor not to sign the draft before it arrived at a verdict on the case. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for the third week of January.

Two days before the stay order, NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had announced formation of a committee headed by Education Minister Fazle Ali to propose names for the provincial and district ombudsmen. The committee had been tasked to complete its job within one week so that practical steps could be taken for the implementation of the Hasba Act. The process has been put to a stop after the stay order.

The bill has been lying pending for the last three and a half years. It was in June 2003 that the MMA government was forced to take back the bill in the same session in which the Shariat Bill was passed. The strong resistance, put up by the joint opposition MPAs in the NWFP Assembly belonging to ANP, PPPP, PPP-S, PML-Q and PML-N, forced the clergy-led government to amend certain clauses. It did so in consultation with the opposition as well as people from different walks of life.

MMA experts worked on the bill for another two years to remove some of the reservations of the opposition and Hasba Bill was tabled in the NWFP Assembly again in 2005. Despite strong opposition, the bill was passed with majority. The draft was sent to the governor NWFP who expressed certain reservations on it and returned it to the government. The MMA brought amendments in the Act and sent it again to the governor for approval. The volleying of the Act continued for a while after which the MMA announced to further amend the draft according to the wishes of the opposition. It took over an year and only raised the issue of Hasba Bill whenever it was under some kind of political pressure by the federal government.

After consultations with intellectuals, NGOs, politicians, religious scholars, professionals and people from different walks of life, MMA tabled it again on November 13. This was the time when the Supreme Council of the alliance had announced that they would be quitting from the assemblies in the first week of December. Despite the hue and cry raised by the opposition, the act was passed with a majority vote. Now it is pending in the governor's secretariat who has been directed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan not to sign it before its verdict.

The Attorney General of Pakistan Makhdoom Ali Khan during his arguments before a larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry argued that the NWFP government has included certain sections in the draft of the Bill that the court had declared in violation of the constitution. Another objection of the Attorney General was that the Bill is against Article 175 of the constitution that will result in establishment of a parallel judicial system in the province.

The federal government believes the Hasba Bill is not only unconstitutional but un-Islamic as well. "The bill is un-constitutional and un-Islamic and that is why the Supreme Court has stayed its implementation. The provincial government should wait for the decision of the court," Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani told newsmen in Peshawar.

Another Durrani who happens to be the chief minister of NWFP thinks it's a forward step to enforce an Islamic system of government in NWFP. Contradicting the statement of Information minister that the establishment of Hasba Force would cost Rs.8 billion and 1000 personnel would be recruited, the chief minister says the Hasba Department would cost Rs.26.5 million per annum. He also vowed to fight a legal battle in the Supreme Court and is looking for a panel of reputed lawyers to defend the MMA's case.

Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam, who is a staunch MMA opponent, and is supported in this opposition by none other than President Musharraf himself, thinks the Hasba Act would result in establishing a parallel administration in the province. Elected on an MMA ticket in the general elections, the federal minister has emerged as the strongest critic of MMA.

"Strengthening institutions is the only solution to a number of our problems. We will have to respect the parliament to avoid further complications," remarked Bakht Jehan Khan Advocate, and Speaker of NWFP Assembly. He opined they would accept whatever the decision of the apex court is in the case.

The implementation of Hasba Act did not seem to be on the cards after the resignation furore raised by MMA. In that sense, it was perfectly timed. It did succeed in deflecting attention from the resignation issue for a bit and not for long. It was clear all along that the two major partners, JUI-F and JI, stand divided on the issue. Thus, while the chief minister, who is a senior leader of the JUI-F, was preparing to take practical steps for the implementation of the Act, a seasoned JI leader Senator Professor Ibrahim was saying at a seminar that the implementation of Hasba was impossible since the religious parties had already decided to quit.

Saif ur Rehaman Saifi, on death row in a high security cell of Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, is not just an ordinary criminal. The authorities believe he is the one who introduced the most lethal terrorist tactic, suicide bombing, in Pakistan.

27-year-old Saifi is awaiting a Supreme Court decision in his case. Undeterred by the uncertainty that surrounds his fate, Saif has used his time in prison to educate himself. In the last matriculation exams he was a candidate from his prison cell and to the surprise of everyone secured 830 marks out of a total of 1050. He took the exam while he was under trial at an anti-terrorist court.

Hailing from a far flung district of Lyah in southern Punjab, Saifi quit school at a tender age. Later he became enamoured with a militant organisation and joined it. He is accused of masterminding three lethal suicide attacks in the country. These include the attack on March 17, 2002 on an International Church in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave as a reaction to the US invasion in neighbouring Afghanistan. The suicide bombing left five people dead, including a US diplomat. In the second attack, on August 5, 2002 at Murree's international school six people were killed. The third attack on August 9 the same year at a Christian missionary hospital in Taxila killed three hospital workers and nurses.

Jail has apparently brought a change in Saifi's thinking. His dream now is to make his mark on the academic scene. "My client Saifi wants to educate himself and this is his basic human right which no one can deny," his lawyer Hashmat Habib told TNS.

Saifi's example inspired others who were caught by law enforcement agencies along with Saif. Mohammad Izhar, Asif Raza, Rahim Khan, Abdul Qadeer, Mohammad Ayaz, Atta Ullah, Abubakar have all followed suit. They appeared in the matriculation examination from Adiala jail and they did all the preparation there.

The seven did as well as Saif, earning praise and goodwill in the jail. Mohammad Abubakar secured 794, Atta Ullah 773, and Mohammad Ayaz 781 marks.

Another prisoner, Asif Raza, sentenced to life imprisonment by an anti-terrorist court, has also hit the academic jackpot from Adiala jail, getting 772 marks in matriculation examination.

Fazl Hameed and Tahir Mehmood, both facing death penalty at an anti-terrorist court for their alleged involvement in the Shah Najaf firing case on February 28, 2002 in Rawalpindi in which 12 Shiites lost their lives, also appeared in the matriculation exam and secured 808 and 781 marks respectively. Both have appealed against their sentence in the higher courts.

Another high profile prisoner Hamad Arshad convicted in the murder case of a deputy superintendent of police Raja Saqlain, by an anti-terrorist court secured 788 marks whereas his accomplice Mohammad Awais secured 757 marks.

Their companion Imran Abassi secured 654 marks in the intermediate. All of them appeared in the exams from the jail despite pressure from terror charges in the courts.

Interestingly all the prisoners arrested on terrorism charges were preparing to sit for the intermediate exam last September when the jail authorities stopped them from doing so, thinking their further education could be a security risk.

Experts say that militants most often never give up, once they are out of prison. "They often turn to other crimes and do not change their mindset, even after completing their sentences," says Tariq Pervez, Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Though he admitted that in the absence of any study on possible behavioral change in militants after getting education, it is difficult to predict anything.

Apparently, there is no government plan for educating militants in jail. The federal education minister Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, when asked by TNS gave a short and curt reply: "No; we have no such plan."

A perusal of criminal cases against militants brings out the fact that quite often the law enforcement agencies are unable to bring sufficient evidence to secure conviction. The accused often get bail and come out of the prison. What happens then? "Most probably they then go after new terror plans," said Tariq Pervez. He said if there were adequate arrangements, they could provide education to willing prisoners that could wean many a militant away from the dangerous course they had chosen for themselves.

The last time I remember mention of the deep south of the subcontinent, of Raas Kumaree and Cochin is back in the fifth class geography lessons. We giggled over the sing-song musical place names and tripped over how to pronounce Malayalam and Tamil and Telugu; and so the temptation was too much to see the real thing. Kerala spreads in a thin swath along the Arabian Sea coast, what we learnt were the Western Ghaats, and has long held the distinction of being the only province having a hundred per cent literacy in the country.

The normal mode of cooking is in a large and thick copper, or brass cauldron called a 'Varpu'; and little ads beckoned inviting you to come see the world's largest Varpu. It was big, a good twelve feet in diameter, cooked food wherein would last a few weeks, so they had filled it with water and floated a colony of lovely pink lotuses. They needn't have bothered. How could anyone resist a visit to a place with the lovely name of 'Muttoncherry'?

But this was the storied land of Kerala, and it was full of surprises. For one thing, in a drive of some three hours, it seemed one great big urban sprawl with cyclical changes in the set-up from small town back street, to sub-urban, to flashy downtown main street, all without a break. The overwhelming impression was a laid-back ease, and an easy tolerance and acceptance of each other.

Within shouting distance of the Varpu was a sprawling Muslim neighbourhood whose origin actually pre-dated Islam by a few centuries. This was where the ancient Arab sailors came trading, stopping over in the islands of 'Maldeep' and on to 'Serendeep'. Not to be left behind, a local guide tried to pass off the old Synagogue, in the nearby 'Jew Town', as pre-dating Moses. Ho, ho! And to complete the spectrum there are dozens of churches, Dutch or Portuguese or whatever in origin; and a shady little square named after Mother Teresa.

Cochin -- now 'Cochi' -- we were told in the same geography lesson was where the Dutch, not the French or English first came; and the palace of the Rajahs is still called the 'Dutch Palace'. And it has the largest, most amazing murals spread over many rooms telling of the ancient legends and more recent concerns; where many young artists sat delicately copying and recording the thousands of intricate details.

And then there was the serene peace and quiet of what they call the 'Backwaters'. These are an endless series of creeks and inlets, intertwined with lakes and rivulets, so that the water changes from salt to fresh with the tides. Even in the lush green landscape, they are lusher than ever, most of them thickly overgrown with water hyacinth, which floats on the surface with the roots hanging below. Blissfully the serenity is not broken by the long, narrow boats, lined with a single row of bright plastic chairs, and propelled with long bamboos dug into the shallow bottom with the man walking all along the edge of the boat pushing.

Apart from the plastic chairs, the boats are probably built to the design and specifications used thousands of years ago, basic wooden slats and bamboo poles tied together with coir rope spun in little encampments along the shore; but elsewhere there are strong vestiges of the colonial past. The dockyard is still called the 'Brunton Boatyard', though the signs, all of them, are in the Malayalam script which is a quaint set of intricate whirls and whorls which looks intriguing, until you hear it being spoken, when you realise it is written exactly as it is spoken!

1 Institute corruption cases against senior opposition politicians and get them convicted from the trial courts thus making them ineligible to contest the election. By the time superior courts will exonerate them, the electoral process will be complete.

A number of politicians charged with corruption will start joining the ruling party, take them in. Ensure a delay in the proceedings of their corruption cases to keep them under the thumb. Publicise the corruption charges of the opposition leaders in the media to bring their credentials among the public in doubt.

Make investigations into the shady businesses, loan defaulters and tax evaders of some top business people. In the process make tacit deals with them. Let them off the hook and in return receive hundreds of millions of rupees in the sponsorship of election campaign. Issue Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) to provide relief worth billions of rupees to big businesses and get generous funding in return.

2 Use public exchequer's development funds (at the disposal of the federal, provincial and local governments) for political gains ruthlessly and recklessly. Spend the public money in a manner to look it like it is a great benevolence of the rulers to the ordinary people.

Drop economic prudence and adopt expediency in spending plans by leaving development plans of wider advantage and implementing those having more visibility and immediate appeal.

Provide lavish funds worth billions of rupees to build streets and roads in the electoral districts of the favourite and the chosen candidates of the ruling party and deprive the opposition members of the parliament of any development schemes to convey a clear message to the people that they will be punished and remain deprived in case they voted for the opposition.

Chief executives of the provinces can far exceed the budgetary limits to cater for the needs of the ruling party candidates and these additional funds can be adjusted in the next fiscal year's budget as supplementary budgets.

The lavish spending on the so-called development schemes would also provide funds for the electioneering of the ruling party candidates in that the incumbents would execute these schemes through their crony contractors who will give handsome kickbacks to them. These kickbacks running in hundreds of millions rupees are more than enough to run a high-budget electioneering campaign. Obviously, the opposition candidates will be at the disadvantage.

As the ruling party has more funds at its disposal or collects them easily through various devices, it is in its advantage to make the contest high-budget. So the bigger the role of money, the better it is for the incumbents.

3 Spend billions of rupees on advertisement in newspapers and television, highlighting the achievements of the government and the development works completed by it as a part of the election campaign and publicity of the incumbent ruling party. It will create a favourable atmosphere for the ruling party and keep the media obliged.

The local governments (local bodies of yesteryear) are an important pillar of the government's election campaign. Never allow the opposition to get elected as mayors of these governments.

If some opposition members gets elected as mayor (or district nazim), make him change loyalty through provincial administrative control and influence. Else, make him ineffective and paralysed.

These governments provide funds to arrange public meetings for the ruling party for which the opposition has to spend millions of rupees.

All over Pakistan, hundreds of billions of rupees are at the disposal of these local governments which should be used for arranging public meetings and to pay for the transport to bring people in these meetings from far-flung areas.

The discretionary funds of district nazims, entertainment and public relations funds coupled with lenient audit of these governments' spending allow them to spend freely on government's meetings and campaigns.

Nearly 100,000 union councilors, tehsil nazims and district nazims are paid workers of the ruling party. They were helped to win in the rigged and engineered elections and are given free hand to misuse and pilfer funds at their disposal for five years. Near the general elections, it is time for them to repay by mobilising support for the government candidates.

4 Impose section 144 all over the country to deny the opposition parties to hold public meetings and rally the masses. Occasionally, grant them permission to hold a meeting at the eleventh hour so that they cannot make adequate arrangements. Once again depute police on the eve of an opposition rally to briefly arrest its workers on flimsy charges and then release them in a short time.

Ask the police to prevent opposition processions in the countryside from entering the city where the opposition is holding its show. Convey all the private transport owners not to provide buses and wagons to transport political workers. Impound the buses and wagons being used by the opposition.

This is the duty of the government's media managers to ensure the opposition's public meeting does not get proper coverage in the national vernacular newspapers dependent on government advertisement business.

The newspapers giving prominent coverage to the opposition and publishing features criticising the incumbents should be denied the government's advertisement business which runs into billions of rupees.

In contrast, allow obedient parties to hold public meetings with ease at the points of their choices and facilitate them by providing police maximum security.

On the eve of elections, large public meetings may be banned by legal decrees to deprive the opposition to mobilise masses. Only small corner meetings are to be allowed.

5 Amend election laws to the disadvantage of the opposition. Render a large number of senior opposition politicians ineligible to contest elections by setting some vague and ambiguous conditionality that can be interpreted by the authority for the advantage of the rulers and could be used to dismiss the candidacy of the opposition members. Another way could be to fix a mandatory academic standard for candidates.

A number of candidates may acquire bogus degrees either of universities or seminaries. They may be cleared keeping in view their obedience to the establishment.

6 The police are another pillar of the incumbents. Rural people do not vote individually but they make decisions in groups and families vote in support of some candidate en bloc.

In villages and towns, institute false criminal cases against those extended families that support the opposition to bring them in line. Make their lives miserable so as they are forced to turn to the ruling party's side.

Post the station house officers (SHOs) of the police stations on the recommendation of the government candidates. These SHOs (620 in Punjab) are the real masters of people's lives. They will see to it that the opposition voters either switch their loyalties or stay home at the time of voting.

These SHOs provide intelligence of their respective aras to the intelligence agencies' political wing which compiles and analyses the information to keep the government well-informed and adjust its policies and administrative measures accordingly.

7 Use influence and discretionary funds of intelligence agencies to forge electoral alliances of favourite parties and divide the opposition parties.

8 Make it mandatory for voters to produce their computerised national identity cards at the time of voting. It will keep away a large number of illiterate and poor voters from voting because these people find it hard to get their ID cards prepared. Facilitate government candidates to get the ID cards made for their supporters.

9 Gerrymandering is an old trick invented by the British rulers to keep the disobedient politicians down and out. Redraw the boundaries of the electoral districts on the recommendation of the government's men in a manner that the constituencies include those areas that have their maximum supporters.

10 The Election Commission should be dependent on the executive to perform its functions so that it should not independently assert its role. The intelligence agencies should have penetration in the clerical staff of the Commission to get the latest information and get the needful done for the government candidates.

11 In preparation of electoral rolls, confusion must prevail so that the opposition candidates cannot not know the exact situation. Blocks of voters known to be on the opposition side should be chucked out of voters' lists at the eleventh hour which could be attributed to some computer error or technical mistake. The registration of voters to be made cumbersome so that the opposition cannot get their voters registered and facilitate government's men to get their voters enrolled.

12 Do not allocate popular symbols of choice to the opposition parties. Try to give a list of symbols that do not contain the traditional opposition symbols like sword, arrow and lion.

Field dummy candidates in selective constituencies with symbols closely resembling the symbols of the opposition. This is to confuse poor, illiterate and senior voters. For example, the symbol of pencil resembles an arrow. A few thousand voters may wrongly stamp pencil confusing it for an arrow. Thus in the constituencies with tough contest this trick may help government candidates.

13 On the polling day, provide outdated and wrong voters lists to the opposition candidates so that they cannot mobilise their supporters to get to the polling stations.

14 The government has recruited an army of employees on the recommendation of its members of parliament ignoring merit and competition. Now it is time for them to repay in kind. The government employees loyal to local government candidates should be appointed as polling staff at polling stations so that they can facilitate the ruling party candidates.

15 In rural areas, appoint police staff at the polling station that should allow only those voters to get in who are known to be voters of the government candidates. Opposition voters should be browbeaten and beaten to stay away from the polling stations. In cities, this method should be used discreetly in selective places to avoid media attention.

16 Voting plan or allocation of polling stations to voters should be drawn in a way that suits the ruling party candidates. The communities, clans and suburbs known to be voters of the opposition should be allocated polling stations far from their residential areas to discourage them from voting. Abrupt changes in the voting plan should be made at the eleventh hour to create confusion for the opposition.

17 In certain tough contest areas, the returning officers should be directed to reject the nomination papers of certain opposition candidates or at least raise objections on them several times to keep them engaged and away from election campaign.

18 In certain constituencies, especially rural, hired men of the government candidates be allowed to indulge in bogus voting and ballot stuffing in select polling stations so that the lead of votes taken from there should more than make their losses in other parts of their electoral constituencies.

19 In 20-30 electoral constituencies, ghost polling stations should be set up. These voting centres should be known to the public but the bogus votes cast there should be included in the total tally at the time of tabulation of the result by the returning officers.

20 The legal requirement of declaring the result of a polling station should not be adhered to. In some constituencies, a method of management of zeros may be used. In this way, final results could be doctored by adding a '0' to '109' tally and thus making it '1090' votes to the benefit of the ruling party candidate.

21 If the total number of seats for the government is less than required, the police and intelligence agencies should coerce opposition candidates to switch their loyalties and join the government. A carrot and stick policy has always worked, it should work one more time.

When Pinochet came to Pakistan

Oh so this is how Pinochet looks like! Some of the Pakistanis raised through the 1980s and fed on the same imagery and parallels and symbols as this writer may have wondered after they saw his face in the newspaper for the first time. For them the name Augustus Pinochet was an allusion that conjured up the picture of someone who existed closer to home, inside home.

Those were the days when the press department people in Pakistan were feared and ridiculed -- more ridiculed than feared -- by the independent press corps here. The official scissors wielders were extremely sensitive to anything which they perceived to be anti-Zia ul Haq. The weekly Viewpoint from Lahore was a prime target of this cleansing undertaken by the government and quite often we would be thrilled by all those blank spaces in the magazine. These empty patches were to us readers more powerful than a thousand words. They indicated that someone had been pinched by a piece of news, if not the dictator, then a small tool in his mighty machinery. That was some revenge for those confided to a single-file trudge in a dark alley by a usurper.

Sometimes -- at least more than once if I remember correctly after all these years -- the blank paces would be flanked by a piece of information on the current doings of Chile's America-backed strongman, Augustus Pinochet. Few papers carried too many pictures from abroad in those days. Viewpoint was especially reluctant to waste space on pictures where important bits of written news could be accommodated instead. That in a way facilitated the readers in drawing easy parallels. The news from Chile blended nicely with the self-crafted image of our own answer to General Pinochet and the combination brought that knowing smile on the face of the reader.

The analogy was ready-made. The rulers in Chile and Pakistan had both been American stooges who had come to power after staging coups against elected governments and they followed a similar route to consolidate their hold on power bar a difference of nuances here and there. President Salvador Allende, the man who Pinochet overthrew in 1973, was killed in a bombing. Zia on the other hand followed what he would describe as a legal course to physically eliminate Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Pinochet's was an anti-communist regime and so was Zia's and both were backed to the hilt in pursuance of their programmes by the United States. And so on...right up to the crash near Bahawalpur on August 17, 1988.

For the Zia-Pinochet matchers, from one angle, it was a bit of an anti-climax. As an avid Zia admirer congratulated a Zia hater on the fall of the dictator that August evening, the greetings were received with a smirk and a heavy heart. The sadness was due out of respect for the dead. It also betrayed a sense of resignation that accrues out of failure to bring a tyrant down in his lifetime. Whatever internal and external factors may have contributed to it, the truth is that Pinochet could be overthrown without anyone having to kill him. He was there to see it when his regime was formally reconfirmed as evil by people through whatever means that were available to them like vote etc. He was there when the ghosts of all those he had waylaid in his effort to 'make Chile strong' returned to haunt him after this popular reconfirmation of truth. Others like him had died without having to face the wrath of the people after they had been dismissed from power.

As the proposed elections year come closer, conflicting news about deals, allegations and counter allegations of various kinds abound. Although this confusion and uncertainty is lethal for all political major players, the real losers so far appear to be Jamaat-e-Islami and its allied parties in MMA. Qazi Hussain Ahmad has lost all credibility after the failure of his rhetoric about proposed million marches and then resignations from assemblies. There is a clear difference of opinion among the religious parties in the alliance that are enjoying the taste of political power for the first time.

The religious parties' alliance that owed its existence to the military establishment during the last elections of 2002 succeeded because of PPP's and PML-N's failure to address the most important political issue -- erosion of national sovereignty because of Musharraf's unconditional support to the US military action in Afghanistan. This act of MMA was unexpected since the group had gathered on the one point agenda of support to the military ruler.

Mian Nawaz Sharif and his party, a PML left-over after a large majority decided to join Musharraf, had always been in the pro-US camp. However, it was strange that PPP, with its alleged leftist leanings, completely ignored the US hostile policy against the Muslim countries particularly Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Iran.

The leadership of Pakistan People's Party conveys this impression rather visibly that it does not want to annoy the US, buying the theory it is not possible to assume power in Pakistan without a nod from the Americans. This has been the general feeling since 1986 when Benazir Bhutto came to Pakistan as Bhutto's political heir. Therefore, they did not think it important to give import to public sentiments at the time of 2002 elections. The religious parties that had been US allies throughout the Cold War period, particularly during American sponsored Jihad in Afghanistan, exploited the anti-US sentiments of the public especially in provinces adjoining Afghanistan.

MMA's shallow approach towards serious political issues exposed its weakness soon after elections when they voted to legitimise Gen. Musharraf's actions in the parliament, perhaps to repay the favours they had received. During the last more than four years the MMA has failed to contribute positively in any way to make any improvement in the chaotic political conditions though they are in power in two provinces and are an important opposition in the Senate and in National Assembly. They have only created some noise on non-issues like holding of marathon, deletion of religion column from the passport, efforts to update the school syllabi and textbooks and against the adoption of Women Protection law.

They consider Gen. Zia's laws, enforced under martial law, as hudood Allah. As a pressure tactic they had announced that if the hudood ordinance of Ziaul Haq was changed they would resign from the assemblies. The strategy to blackmail the rulers in the name of Islam boom-ranged and for a change Gen. Pervez Musharraf refused to accommodate the religious might. The announcement of resignations resulted only in humiliation and loss of credibility. The alliance is on the verge of breaking up and Qazi Hussain Ahmad and his Jamaat is isolated.

It was the third consecutive defeat for Qazi. Earlier it was 'Zalimo Khabardar Qazi Aa raha Hai' and Qazi failed to come. Then it was Qazi Sahib's fondness to organise a million march. Perhaps he did not realise that in Pakistan a million people have never been on the roads or at a public meeting. The million march joke was followed by the latest threat of resignations from assemblies.

The Jamaat and other religious groups, some of them comprising a few dozen enthusiasts only, have not yet recovered from the hangover of the violent PNA movement that had resulted in military coup of Gen. Ziaul Haq. This provided them a chance to move freely in the corridors of power in Islamabad for the first time in Pakistan's history. What they do not realise, because of their inability to analyse the situation, is that during PNA agitation they received an equal amount of support from outside the country -- from anti-Bhutto and anti-people powers dominating international politics.

The other three performers in the political circus are PPP, directed on email by its self-exiled chairperson, PML-N again receiving instructions from its leader who had opted to go out instead of going to a Pakistani prison. The third player is MQM which is again being mobilised by another self-exiled leader through telephonic addresses. The MQM is a part of the ruling alliance at the centre and in the province of Sindh. They enjoy a privileged position as the rulers cannot be in power without their support both at the centre and in Sindh. They have their electoral base intact in urban Sindh which they are trying to extend to other parts for the coming elections.

Pakistan People's Party has failed to adequately deny rumours of a 'deal' with Gen. Musharraf as its leadership in the country is divided on the issue. Various important leaders of the party are sending mixed signals to their workers and voters. 'Mohtarma wapas aye gi' is their programme for the election so far. Muslim League-N with its anti-Musharraf stand, which is understandable, is trying to forge an alliance with religious parties especially with Jamaat-i-Islami, that had been its ally in the past also.

The ruling alliance too appears weak. They are concerned about the rumours of Musharraf's deal with PPP, while some of their coalition partners, turncoats from PPP, are happy with their prospects as they would get a chance to join PPP once again.

The only winner in all this political chaos is Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf and his establishment. They have another opportunity to strengthen their hold on power for a longer period.