baithak: Baithak Desi May 28: Mumtaz Bhutto, Rauf Klasra, Aatish Taseer, The Problem, Shireen Mazari, Headlines, Cartoons

Cases here normally do not take less then fifteen to twenty years to conclude (the writer is speaking from personal experience) and it is usually the accused or defendant who resorts to various means to avoid a verdict a long as possible. Delay has become the best defence. However, the corruption cases filed in England and Switzerland against Asif Zardari stand proved and sentences of confiscation and auction of Surrrey Palace and sealing of accounts worth about $70 million with six months imprisonment has already been imposed. Anyhow, what is beyond dispute is the fact that the previous two PPP governments which were dismissed on charges of murder and corruption (the dismissals upheld by the Supreme Court) consisted mainly of those who are in government today, which raises the question what political pilgrimage have they performed to cleanse themselves of their natural propensities? And what reform school for disgraced politician have they attended to raise hopes of better performance? However, the most negative factor in the present PPP government is the absence of Shaheed Benazir, which is an unfathomable minus. When this lot could not show the required integrity and ability under her guidance, how are they going to prove equal to the task now?The reconciliation hoax - Mumtaz Bhutto

First they raped the country now they want to join the march

Aatish Taseer

It won't be easy to translate theory and campaign promises into practice, and it may not work. Allies and the surrounding region are likely to be impatient, and there is good reason to worry that Pakistan's voters will tire of terror long before the government sorts itself out. Indeed, a hasty treaty with insurgents -- distressingly similar to one that failed two years ago -- already conflates motion with progress. And familiar worries will continue to plague the government: no one knows what the army -- thus far unusually cooperative -- will do if a new political compact doesn't show immediate progress. The whims of a truculent president who refuses to step down are unknown, too. If parliament can't survive the enormous pressures of this transition to civilian government, these policies, if not the parliament itself, may be short-lived. The Problem With Pakistan's Government

Had we understood the basis of why these powers were opposed to our nuclear capability, we would have spent less energy and even fewer national resources in trying to satisfy them. Now while Dr Khan continues to suffer, all others of his so-called network are free souls and the Swiss government has actually destroyed the records involving their countrymen since they felt this was a threat to the country's defence and security. If the US is presently riding roughshod all over our national life it is because we have allowed them to do so. Today, as our leaders quiver like pygmies, our nuclear achievement lies wasted and the achievers' are either incarcerated or killed. Shireen Mazari

Headlines

US signals Zardari to remove Musharraf
Meeting Pakistan's most feared militant
Zardari, Nawaz agree to cut President's powers
'I like Musharraf's support for democracy': PM Gilani
Paula Newberg: Pakistan's Governance Imperative
Between covers, the story of Pakistan
Battle of Tapes: PML-Q presents tapes against PML-N
Billionaires still poles apart
The inside story of the PPP CEC’s big ‘no’
A forgotten hero: Air Commodore Nazir Latif