The governments of the Republic of Pakistan, and particularly that of the province of Sindh, have a fair share of medical doctors - physicians and surgeons - who govern in the name of free and fair elections and of democracy. These gentlemen gain admission into our medical colleges, study or play, then graduate either through their own skills or through their connections and clout.

They take their Hippocratic Oath, they swear to heal and to save lives, and then, after depriving others of a chance to become healers, they leap on to the political bandwagon, thus installing themselves in the business, not of healing and saving, but of hurting and depriving.

Take Sindh, we have as our governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, a member of the Muttahida Quami Movement, sent to us from the party's inner sanctum in London by the Pir of the Party, qualified chemist Altaf Hussain, now a patriotic citizen of the United Kingdom. Dr Imran Farooq sits at the right hand of his leader in London, convening the party and its affairs.

In our National Assembly sits MQM member, all-rounder Dr Farooq Sattar (possibly a few of the MQM gentlemen holding portfolios also have an MBBS after their names). And now, from another affiliated political party we have as our chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim. Doctor of what, one asked? Of medicine, one was told.

The Union Jack still flies proudly over this province of Sindh, which is once again very much in thrall to the Pir of London Town, Altaf Hussain, and to his party. Prior to Dr Rahim's elevation he made two visits. The first was to Karachi Central Prison wherein dwells his Pir in Pakistan, Mumtaz Manghi, convicted of bank fraud. Dr Rahim sought his blessings, - they were given. He then proceeded to London to seek the blessings of Pir Altaf which were also given.

He returned to Karachi to be sworn in by Pir Hussain's representative in Karachi, Dr Ibad. He then returned to the city's jail to thank the resident Pir and inquire as to how he could be of service. That sensible man informed the good doctor that he would wait patiently for his God to decide his fate.

On the morning of June 10, as many of us who reside in the vicinity of the Clifton Bridge were reading our morning newspapers, one headline being 'Rahim takes over as Sindh CM' over a report on his oath-taking the previous day at which had been present another administrator with a medical background, Dr Mutawakkil Kazi, our chief secretary. We were then somewhat startled to hear loud gunshots, not random firing, but prolonged volleys.

After a spell of silence, and moving on to read another news item under another headline, 'Ensuring writ of law among top priorities, says Arbab' came a bomb blast of somewhat severe intensity. Is Dr Rahim familiar with the phrase uttered by the founder of this country on August 11, 1947 : ".... the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State"?

That there is no law enforcement and thus no order in this Republic is a fact of life, now accepted by all, and by and large we seem to have relinquished any hope that there may be a miraculous change. Lawlessness is multiplying at a frightening rate. A couple of weeks ago, my driver who lives in a ramshackle two-room apartment in Chakiwara was held up at gunpoint by two goondas.

He and his wife were pushed into the bathroom, their mouths were taped, and they were locked in while the two ransacked his place and decamped with his meagre savings of some Rs.3,000 and whatever paltry jewellery his wife had received at her wedding. When his children returned from school they found the entrance door locked and sought help from the neighbours to break in and free their parents. When dacoits descend to robbing the poor, what does is tell us of their sense of desperation?

Last Sunday evening, my old school friend aged 80 and his 79-year-old wife who live in a flat obliquely opposite the Clifton police station on Hatim Alvi Road were robbed and injured. A young well-dressed man (trousers and shirt), armed with a hand gun accompanied by a young equally well-dressed woman armed with a knife, talked their way into their first floor flat (they both spoke good English), took whatever they could find of value, injured the old couple while tying them up and left them bloody and in a state of shock. Both had to be hospitalized.

In April, within the space of ten days, psychiatrist Professor Haroon Ahmed's two clinics were broken into and ransacked. The first incident was at the Hilal-e-Ahmar building at the Teen Talwar and the second at his Depot Lines clinic. The motive, according to the police, appeared to be other than plain and common robbery.

Professor Ahmed has other problems. He was involved in the collection of funds for the establishment of the Institute of Behavioural Sciences where the mentally disturbed are treated. Our nuclear proliferation wizard, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, was also involved in the collection of funds, and one fine day he decided to physically take over the institute and forcibly occupied it. When Professor Ahmed was advised to go to court he was informed that he would be taking on a powerful man. He, however, went ahead and filed a suit which two years down the line is still being heard. He is now being harassed. He is helpless. Like all others, he has no recourse to the law.

This past week, after having read my last two Sundays' columns on the SITE scam, a young McGill man (PhD in Economics) wrote me a 'private & confidential' letter recounting how he and his family have been deprived of their land in the Hawkesbay Scheme which involves some 1,000 acres worth about Rs.10 billion.

He wrote: "I have been intensely victimized by the area police (Keamari Town) who are open accomplices in this land grab. Two patently false (yet very serious) FIRs have been filed against my employees, which we are defending - one for attempted murder and the other involving narcotics planted by the police [against] my chowkidar. A crooked Sindh MPA is largely behind the land grab (his wife is a senator)..... We are clearly losing this battle to the land mafia and their politically influential accomplices in the Sindh Board of Revenue and the Police. If you would like to give us your moral support and press exposure it would be of much help."

The entire country suffers from the same plague. A young doctor of the Karachi branch of the Pakistan Medical Association recently wrote to the president of Pakistan recounting an incident he learnt of when he was in Lahore delivering a lecture at the Punjab Health Ministry School at 5 Montgomery Road : "I came to know that every student of this institute belongs to an extremely poor family living in a Punjabi village. The students get scholarships, accommodation, teaching and training in this building. Sadly I also came to know that Dr Faiza Asghar, adviser to the chief minister on home affairs, wife of Dr Asghar, adviser to the chief minister on health - must be a well connected couple - has occupied half the building for her own activities..".

The half includes the library, prayer room, sick room, common room and lounge, and apparently the adviser has plans also to take over the kitchen and dining hall. The young doctor continues: "If this adviser is a real social worker and comes from abroad to help the poor people of the country, she could have built a building at any empty space in Lahore... I also came to know that Dr Shahnaz Cheema, the then principal of this school, resisted the orders of the adviser and she was immediately transferred and asked to report to the DG office...

"It is very sad to know that the IG Police sent a message to her that she would be arrested and punished for disobeying the chief minister of Punjab. Dear Mr President, this situation is totally unacceptable for any civil society. I urge you to take urgent action in this regard and show that you believe in the rule of law....".