EVEN as Pakistan stumbles from one worrying development to another, the country's two leading politicians are going for each other's throat with the single-mindedness of boys in a schoolyard fight. On Tuesday President Zardari launched a divisive attack on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for his alleged ideological leanings and criticism of the military. The president is also the co-chairman of a political party, and his speech at Naudero was directed at an audience of PPP workers. But while the president may have chosen to wear two hats, his constitutional responsibility is to represent the unity of the country. The ruling party has every right to defend itself against Mr Sharif's accusations, but there are plenty of other PPP politicians who can, and do, perform this function. Nor is it the president's role to publicly defend the military against allegations of playing an outsized role in policymaking. The matter is one that should be debated in parliament, but making the military the basis of a public squabble between the head of state and a leading politician risks expanding, not curtailing, that institution's role in the country's politics.

For his part, Mr Sharif, although he does not bear the same responsibilities, has not done much to rise above an attack campaign. Take his current visit to Azad Kashmir ahead of the legislative assembly elections there: his speeches have focused largely on targeting the president and the PPP for corruption rather than addressing the concerns of the people of AJK. The bulk of what he stated could have been said anywhere else in the country. And while his recent criticism of the civil-military relationship reflects important concerns the country needs to grapple with, it seems to have devolved into little more than a vehicle for government-bashing. Mr Sharif is a politician, and he is heading the ruling party's most formidable rival in the run-up to an election year. He cannot be expected not to campaign. But amidst his continued criticism of the way things are, one would like to hear a realistic vision and plan for how things ought to be.