The federal law secretary resigned on Friday, further exposing the PPP governments shameful farce endlessly unfolding before the Supreme Court. Hopefully, better sense would prevail on part of the government now, and it would write the letters that the Supreme Court had ordered months ago. It must sack its incorrigible foot-dragging law minister, who is the biggest hurdle in implementing the courts order, and induct someone more law-abiding in his place: Someone who is not blinded by his servile loyalty to the person of President Zardari. It appears to be PPPs last chance to mend its devious ways and save itself from the wrath of citizens. So far, the government has followed a duplicitous policy regarding the restored judiciary and the implementation of its groundbreaking decisions. While the prime minister proclaims respect for the independent judiciary, his law minister does the dirty work of frustrating the courts orders. Sounding like a Punjabi film villain, Law Minister Babar Awan is on record as saying that the letters to restart cases in Swiss Courts against President Zardari would be sent over his dead body. His confrontational tone aside, he has left no stone unturned to obstruct the implementation of the Supreme Courts order and disobey its clear instructions. In fact, the entire PPP power-circle would like us to believe that it has a mandate to operate above the law. It wants to wish away the recent revolution brought about by the Rule of Law movement. The efforts of Zardari loyalists to put a spin on the movement have been unrelenting, especially since the PPP won the 2008 elections. To begin with, the party leadership was reluctant to restore an independent judiciary and did it only when there was no way out. Since the restoration, its 'ifs and buts when it comes to following the court orders in a number of significant cases, demonstrate its stubborn resistance to accept the new reality of being accountable to the institution of judiciary. Clearly, the PPP regime was more comfortable with the subservient Dogar court and would like to rewind things to a dark past when there was no check on executive authority. To undermine the Supreme Court and the spirit of the Rule of Law movement, it has used every dirty trick in the book. It would like us to believe that the movement came to fruition with the holding of the 2008 elections and installation of a PPP government. The dishonest PPP narrative, aggressively pushed by Zardari loyalists constituting the partys power-circle, would like us to believe that millions of citizens across the length and breadth of Pakistan who came out to support constitutional rule, were actually agitating for elections to a new Parliament, something that was on the cards in any case. They argue that the so-called democratic regime is not answerable to anyone until the next elections and that the courts should not check its corruption or violation of the constitution. They think that they can browbeat the judiciary by shouting hollow and misleading rhetoric about democracy and befool the citizens with these pathetic spins. They refuse to understand the new power dynamics and would like to continue in the old rotten ways. That, however, is not possible in todays Pakistan. In his speech at the conclusion of the first long march, Aitzaz Ahsan, who was leading the movement at the time, rightly defined the essence of the peaceful revolution as a leap in public consciousness. Leaders of the movement were able to transform the spontaneous outburst against the dismissal of Pakistans chief justice and the subsequent Musharraf 'emergency into a nationwide demand for constitutional rule. What the people struggled against was arbitrary rule of those in power. They rejected their prescribed role as obedient serfs and came out on the streets demanding respect as citizens of the state. They raised the bar for any future government and tied up its legitimacy to the respect for law. The movement gave confidence to the citizens that they have the power to change things against all odds. Those who stood up for rule of law were beaten and tear-gassed, jailed and detained, threatened and blocked by not only Musharraf, but also the new democratic dispensation under Zardari. The citizens now know that once they decide to move on, no military dictator or pseudo democrat can stop them. They expect a better deal from those entrusted with the task of governing them, and no matter how hard the PPP power-circle tries to obfuscate the issue, the citizens look at the restored judiciary as a guarantee against unlawful and arbitrary rule of those in power. Lest we forget, those now claiming to be the sole and unmitigated repository of public will, had failed to mobilise enough people to challenge Musharraf, and until in their typical opportunistic style, the mainstream political parties decided to ride the unstoppable tide of the movement, they had been written off by the citizens. The chance given to them to prove that theyd learnt from their past mistakes and would conduct themselves according to the new expectations of the citizens should not be misconstrued as a blind acceptance of their misrule. Lest those in power forget, for the people of Pakistan, the independent judiciary restored after a long and hard struggle is far more legitimate and credible than Parliament that came into being as a result of shady deals, and the parliamentarians with flaky democratic chips on their shoulders and skeletons of fake degrees and corruption rattling in their closets. The PPP regime seems to be at a crossroads once again. In its zeal to protect one mans millions, will it again drag the army in its showdown with the awakened citizens of Pakistan? Or is it ready to submit to the popular will and govern according to the constitution? Let Zardari and his loyalists be warned: the army chief who saved them from the flood of the second long march might be forced to stand aside in face of the storm that a third long march threatens to bring with it. The writer is a freelance columnist.