Karachi View by Yusuf Khan Governor of Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad is out to defend marooned and beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf; he has launched vicious drive to drive out so-called ex-serviceman society and has vowed to expose them openly and punish them at Regal Square. True those who contributed to the nation's misery deserves no royal treatment as people in Sindh blame them for every difficulty they face day and night. This is hard to sell Moinuddin Haider, Jawed Jabbar and other generals and non-generals in Sindh. Haider was the man who was frying fish for Musharraf when his plane was not allegedly allowed to land at Karachi in the twilight of Oct12, 1999. This man became his interior minister and introduced all sorts of trouble for Sindh and for Pakistan. Now this man who promoted Musharraf's cause during initial difficult early days now want the people to sack him and force him to vacate Army House. Haider has gradually become a TV expert who lectures people over thorny law and order issues. It looks funny now as many in Sindh consider him responsible for aiding and abetting with Musharraf. Now as Musharraf is weak and meek, Haider is attacking him and spewing venom all around; this is wholly unfair and unjustified. Since Haider who proved faithful to nobody was governor during Nawaz era, perhaps Ibad knows something about him, others don't. Hence, he has threatened to go for his open trial and punish him for his alleged wrong doings. Haider deserves no mercy; he failed to defend Nawaz Sharif who made him Sindh governor. This is generally not taken well by people of Pakistan to launch any tirade against a person who is in trouble and who did favour to offending guy. People put Haider in that category. Similar is the case of Jawed Jabbar he became sudden hero of democracy and demanded Musharraf to go away. He never thought about it when Musharraf removed Nawaz. Happily he accepted the position of his information minister and orchestrated campaign for his elevation. People knew he was class fellow of Musharraf whom Pir Pagaro used to call 'glass fellow'. Pir was sure these fellows will land Musharraf in trouble and they finally did. Are common fellows will support Haider and Jabbar and even retired General Qadir Baluch, whom Musharraf made governor of Balochistan? The answer is emphatic no. Indeed, people support Asif Ali Zardari and his campaign to solve peoples problems and they are in no mood to launch any drive for these retried guys who are out to stab their own man in the back. But people largely remained silent over threatening slogans of these guys who loved to write political letters to their former benefactor. The first man to break long silence over these 'sacred cows' was fiery Altaf Hussain, he challenged those past rulers and took them to task for becoming heroes at the behest of political parties. There was no surprise as citizens responded well. Altaf Hussain told these newly born self- proclaimed heroes of democracy to stay in their cozy homes and avoid indulgence in dirty politics. The MQM chief understands peoples' psyche; they are tried of power load shedding, fuel and food crisis. They are not wholly interested in street agitation to help those who boycotted last polls and want early polls to settle their score. People in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Larkana, Dadu, Sanghar and Jacobabad want to give newly born democracy a chance. For Sindh Urban people Altaf Hussain calls all the shots and his position remains unchallenged so far. And the PPP led by Asif Ali Zardari is looking in no rush to help in derailing whatever space is available to elected forces. This is a real change being witnessed by all. True they have no love lost for Musharraf but they know the move is directed against the PPP. Altaf Hussian offered full support to AAZ and won many angry hearts in Larkana and in Nawabshah. 'We are with you in protecting democracy. We are prepared to show our massive support for you.' There is no denying the fact AAZ needed that support as he was struggling to cope with his friends and foes and those who want him to show his back so that they can stab him easily. He refused to provide any such opportunity; he remained in jail for ten long years he understands Pakistani politics better than many of those who relished politics in exile and originally started politics at the behest of generals. Taking a cue from his leader and mentor, Ishratul Ibad, Sindh governor opted not to lag behind and he launched his attack at those so called military experts who are in fact political orphans and took them to task aggressively.' We will show to the world who did what and who played with this poor nation's destiny. We will bring them to task at Regal Square and we will show no mercy. People's court will decide about their fate.' This felling is not confined to Governor House alone. In Karachi one can hear remarks against those former rulers who enjoyed life, had good time during Musharraf era and now they attack him shamelessly. The peoples' memory is not short. They remember every thing and refuse to forget if any wrong was done to them. Indeed, Qazi Hussain Ahmed had every right to castigate, Musharraf even though he relished his rule in both NWFP and in Balochistan and because eof him he secured local power (baldaity iqtidar) in 2001 after MQM for reasons best known to it boycotted local polls. But to be fair Qazi was never part of Musharraf's kitchen cabinet as Moinuddin Haider and Jabbar were. They should have shown courage and oppose Musharraf on his face; they failed to show courage when required. Now after so many years they want to punish him for his wrong doings that he committed, when they were part and parcel of his set up. This for the people is not easy to digest at least in Sindh. Punjab has its own axe to grind; it is more of a personal war between two lions one could be declared former. This is impossible to remove omnipresent MQM from the Sindh scene; it is there. By all available accounts Nine Zero is not unhappy as the way things are moving and the city of Karachi has in fact witnessed unprecedented development during period from 2001 to 2005 (Naimtullah of JI's) and from 2005 to date (of Mustafa Kamal) genial soft- spoken hard liner Ishratul Ibad has played a key role in this development. He is the first governor to complete five successful years on this thorny seat. Indeed he has his share of detractors and those who refuse to understand Sindh. He is playing his innings well; the decision to come to the aid of man in deep trouble shows character of a man. This help will usher into an interesting phase in politics, as his opponents want his head while Ibad showing fidelity, vow to roll those heads who wish for it. Pir Pagaro has joined the race for Musharraf's protection and he is not prepared to leave him in political distress. This is real politics; it is impossible to understand it, with 'lassi' only and without coffee. There is no doubt Musharraf has to go home but the man to send him is Zardari not those who were with him and never suffered during his rule and rather they relished his rule. True, Musharraf should be taken to task but not alone.