A candid view

SENATOR Russ Feingold, one of the several US lawmakers currently visiting Pakistan, has not minced his words while making a plea for the restoration of deposed judges, unlike most other US public representatives and administration officials, who have been hedging with one caveat or the other. His argument is unassailable: their reinstatement would give the message to the outside world that in Pakistan the rule of law holds supreme, and secondly, it has the force of an overwhelming majority of the people's wishes. While asserting that he was not siding with any particular political party, he believed that it was not necessary to link the sacked judges' return to the Bench with other matters, an obvious reference to the constitutional package that the PPP was proposing. One hopes that his plain speaking would clinch the issue that has proved the main sticking point in forging real understanding between the PPP and the PML-N, and has compelled the latter to quit the government.