Venom and vitriol

It’s all too late of course, but the perfect time to leave and have done with it all would have been November 28, the day President General Pervez Musharraf handed over the command of the Pakistan Army to his successor, a general of the ISI.
It had been a foregone conclusion - we all knew and therefore he must have known that shed of his uniform power would immediately evaporate. He would be but a sitting duck, a Samson waiting for the pillars to crumble and fall.
But no, he had negotiated his deal with the mighty sole superpower and Benazir Bhutto. The name of the game was power-sharing and all appeared to be gung-ho. But all went horribly awry on December 27, both for him and for the nation.
As to those who claim he had a hand in the events of that day, they are stupid, for he was the greatest loser in the same manner as Asif Zardari was the greatest gainer. As for the nation, it showed itself for what it was - violent in the extreme, uncontrollable, some bent on vengeance against who or what they knew not, the rest benefiting from an excuse to kill, loot and burn at will. The government of the day was helpless - as is the government of this day.
February 18 came and went and brought with it the awesome surprise of the two unelected leaders of the two main political parties and their gloating henchpersons. There is no need to detail the political gymnastics. We know them well. The result is an erosion of not only the economy but of all restraints of behaviour coupled with the steady advance of the militants of the Taliban.