FINALLY, the government has decided to put Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf on trial for declaring emergency by holding the Constitution in abeyance on Nov 3, 2007.

His crime, as being reported, is ‘abrogating’ the Constitution. Interestingly, he had committed, if not more grievous than the same ‘crime’ earlier on October 12, 1999, for which he, instead of being ‘admonished’, was encouraged by the same judiciary through granting him all the authority to rule as he deemed fit.

Here, the point to ponder is that could he have repeated the same ‘crime’ if he had not been encouraged at the first place? Anyway, no harm even now, if the general is taken to task for whatever wrong he did but then what about those who became instrumental in breaking up the country?

What about those who have and are still filling their own coffers by exploiting the national wealth through blatant corrupt practices and destroying the national economy?

What about those who are responsible for spreading hatred within the country and killing innocent people at will by acts of terrorism of all kind? What about those who are and had been deliberately degrading our national institutions to appease their foreign masters?

What about those who are and had been flaunting with complete arrogance the decisions of the apex court? There is a long list of such crimes that definitely warranted attention on priority by people at the helm of affairs. Every criminal must be brought to justice.

For any society to flourish and progress, a strong and independent justice system is needed. We believe that our judiciary is independent. We wish to ‘see’ justice being done with everyone at every stage, irrespective of cast, creed, status or religious affiliations.

NISAR SARWAR Lahore

Law & order

LAW and order situation in Pakistan is not good at the moment. No one is safe anymore. My son was held at gunpoint and all his belongings taken away in broad daylight on a busy road.

I firmly believe that what we need here is a strong person to govern the country. Gen ( r )Pervez Musharraf was certainly such a person. The law and order situation was satisfactory, while US dollar was at Rs60 for the entire duration of Musharraf’s rule.

There is now no one else capable of governing as can be seen by the deteriorating situation with the dollar now hovering at Rs110. Now both young and old are migrating to the US and Canada for a better and safer life. I strongly believe people living comfortably in the US, Canada or other countries need not comment on democracy of this country.

SALMA SAMAD Karachi