THERE is a world of difference between the Code Napoleon and the Code Naqvi, which is soon to fall upon us. Whereas General Napoleon Bonaparte did proclaim that his code was indestructible, he was not so presumptuous as to maintain it was immutable, unchangeable. But General Tanvir Naqvi and his co-generals insist that the laws they intend to enforce will forever remain in the form in which they are now presented to this country.

The Code Napoleon, officially known as the Code Civil des Francais, became the law of France in 1804 and remains extant to this day, with revisions. France is one of the great countries and has learnt how to live with the world. It is pragmatic, able to smell out rats, corrupt prime ministers and their corrupt spouses, and crooked admirals of countries with which it does business. It comfortably relieves the governments of such countries of much money and where necessary bribes with kickbacks, sells its submarines, and then decorates the admirals who were so friendly and cooperative.

It is not so much the system or the laws which matter - it is the men who administer the system and implement the laws. Our province of Sindh can boast of having had a few competent men who have done their best to effectively govern.

The oldest of such men to come to mind is Astad Gorwala, a Parsi of Bombay, an officer of the Indian Civil Service, who spent most of his career in Sindh administering the province prior to partition. He was incorruptible, a man of the people, sought out by each district. When he retired he went back to Bombay and became a pamphleteer, constantly opposing the corrupt and the inefficient administrators of the government.

I hold a copy of his pamphlet, 'Opinion', of August 28 1979. On top of the front page I read, "Weekly Copy, Paisas 5, Annual Subscription Rs.2." The page opens up, "Since independence, presidents of India have been scholars, gentlemen and scholars, politicians, even clowns arousing the laughter of Indians at least. Now we have a trickster as president... Why all this trickery, oh Trickster Nilam Sanjiva Reddy? You, from the exalted Rashtrapati Bhawan, are not likely to make a reply, so we must make do with our own humble speculations."

He wrote incessantly against Indira Gandhi and her emergency. But when she closed down many a newspaper and arrested and jailed many an editor, she gave special instructions that neither Gorwala nor his pamphlet was to be touched. And, when Gorwala lay ill and dying, Indira took the trouble to call on him at his Ridge Road home, his publishing house.

Now to administrators of Sindh who people still remember. We start with Kunwar Idris, district magistrate and collector of Karachi in the late 1960s and early 1970s, starting his steady rise up the hierarchy. When, at the end of 1988, Benazir Bhutto embarked upon her democratic adventure, she appointed him chief secretary of Sindh. He was of course given orders by husband Asif, which he tended to ignore. This was not to the liking of Benazir, who called him, told him very firmly that he had upset her husband, and that "when my husband speaks you must take it that the prime minister speaks."

He survived with the PPP government until the end of 1989 when he had to decide between either taking action according to the dictates of his conscience or "responding positively, without question, to the party programme and its democratic principles," the party and its leader having swum through "rivers of blood" to get where they were. His choice displeased Benazir and he was shunted into a siding to head Bankers Equity.

Idris retired honorably, is now a member of the private sector, and writes a weekly column which is printed besides mine each Sunday. As can be judged from his writings, he is highly skeptical of the Code Naqvi, with good reason, and its general might do well to have a talk with him.

During the first half of the 1970s, ZAB's government found in London, happily posted in our High Commission as economic counselor, civil servant Abdul Karim Lodhi. His help was sought to instigate Benazir Bhutto's election as president of the Oxford Union, as had been ordered by her father. He refused to bend, or to involve himself in the unorthodox action required of him, and, ZAB following form, ordered his dismissal. He was reinstated by Zia and was later selected by daughter Benazir to follow Idris as her chief secretary in Sindh.

During Lodhi's tenure, Zubair Kidwai was secretary of the provincial transport ministry. One fine day Zubair and the managing-director of the Karachi Transport Corporation who had been summoned to his office were physically threatened by their minister, the PPP stalwart Manzoor Wassan. The minister, having failed to gain his secretary's acquiescence in wrongdoing through purely verbal means, thought he could do so at gunpoint, using his armed guards.

The incident was obviously reported to the chief secretary who wrote to his chief minister, Aftab Shahban Mirani, asking him to immediately issue orders to his ministers and other party members instructing them "that no one shall cause firearms or any other weapons to be carried into the office rooms. If anybody does so, from now onwards, Sir, with due respect, one will have to order the physical removal from the secretariat of both the minister and his companions bearing arms. The government has provided adequate police security in the secretariat. If that is not considered enough by anybody, it cannot be supplemented by ruffians ..... Now, reverting to the ugly incident, Sir, it so happens that both the affected officers have a known reputation for uprightness, competence and integrity. One wonders if anything similar can be used to describe the errant minister .... Mr Manzoor Wassan should personally apologize to both officers, preferably in the presence of his private secretary and the two guards (of course, minus their weapons)....."

Lodhi survived Benazir. Then came Jam Sadiq Ali as chief minister of the Jatoi caretaker government who one day swore that for as long as he was CM of Sindh Lodhi would be his CS. Two days later, Lodhi was removed and installed as head of State Life.

Another strong officer, Saeed Mehdi, was sent to Sindh as chief secretary at the start of Nawaz Sharif's second round. He was humane, he helped people. Firm, incorruptible, he stood up well to the bullying tactics of his chief minister, the corrupt (now absconding) Liaquat Jatoi. Jatoi did his best but could not manage to get rid of him as Mehdi had gained the trust of his boss Nawaz. To Mehdi's misfortune, he was so trusted by Nawaz that he took him away from Sindh and posted him as his principal secretary in Islamabad. He remained as such until October 12, 1999, when he was arrested along with his boss from the prime ministerial mansion.

Nawaz has since hit the jackpot and languishes in Saudi Arabia, but Mehdi remains in jail in Pakistan, a forgotten man. It is time someone woke up to his existence. It is time for the chief executive to pass judgment on his sins or crimes, give him bail, and move him over to house arrest. No man who has served with or under Mehdi speaks ill of him.

When Mehdi so unluckily left Karachi, his replacement was Zubair Kidwai. He lasted with Liaquat Jatoi for eight months and was then moved to federal government. When General Pervez Musharraf took over, Kidwai was brought back as chief secretary and again managed to last a mere eight months with the military government before being again shifted to Islamabad and rewarded with the post of secretary to the ministry of religious affairs from where he will soon retire.

General Tanvir Naqvi should remember that the system he is setting up must have checks and balances galore as it will be operated by corrupt, venal, inept men, which is all that elections can now throw up. Men such as the four officers I have mentioned can well be used to help 'restructure', to help in the grassroots devolution process, to help set up the Code Naqvi so that it too may last for two centuries and more.