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* Correction The quote that was previously attributed to Chairman Howard Berman in the column below was actually a statement made by Congressman Gary Ackerman. The error has beeen corrected.

THE disgrace of the happenings in the National Assembly of Pakistan on April 13, less than a month ago, when the Nizam-i-Adl Regulation was rushed through, the members present in the house passing a resolution making it law which was that same day signed by the president, has swiftly and dangerously rebounded.

The handing over of Swat and Malakand to a band of brutal obscurantists, practising their own perverted form of religion, was, according to the ruling party (a parasite of the presidency), its coalition partners (with the honourable exception of the MQM) and the opposition (with the honourable exception of PML-N's Ayaz Amir) supposed to usher in an era of peace and tranquillity and general bliss for the tormented people of the area.

How was it possible that anyone with an ounce of sense could imagine that men such as Sufi Mohammad, his son-in-law Fazlullah and their brainwashed cohorts were capable of genuinely wishing to come to an agreement of any sort? Their motives and those of our legislators and president were not only suspect but divergent.

The abject surrender of the government rightly incensed millions of citizens of Pakistan who hold no truck for the Taliban or their warped beliefs, as it rightly provoked much harsh criticism from the country which keeps Pakistan afloat — the US. And all were right as was evidenced by the verbal and other strife, displacement and killings of the intervening days. The benefit of the doubt must go to our army which maintained its constitutional stance.

What transpired at the brief May 6 afternoon bilateral meeting at the White House between President Barack Obama and Asif Zardari, who assumed the leadership of Pakistan through a cruel twist of fate, is now obvious — the riot act was read. Zardari had no options open to him, installed by the sole superpower, to stay in place he has to do its bidding.

Thus, on May 7, mere hours after the two met, Zardari's hapless prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, declared war on the Taliban and their fellow forces of disruption and 'vowed' to 'wipe them out' of the areas now under their control. Simultaneously, army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani 'vowed' the launching of a 'decisive operation'. (What need to be also wiped out with a decisive operation are the madressahs which provide human fodder for the rampaging Taliban.)

Both men had pushed and defended the disastrous peace deal in Swat and Malakand, and now both at the bidding of the president of the republic, who is but following orders from the masters, have fallen into line. We now watch and wait to see how and if the army can stick it out. There has been consistent and relentless criticism of the Pakistan Army mainly from the foreign media which can place no trust in it. To quote the Wall Street Journal of last week decisive power belongs to the military, whose ambivalence, duplicity and outright support for the militants over the past three decades have brought us to this pass.

There is not much argument with that as we know that the Taliban in Afghanistan were for years looked upon by the skilful army strategists as 'strategic assets'. Army thinking will have to have radically changed if there is to be a 'decisive operation,' as there is much doubt expressed from within and without as to the general mindset of both officers and men. There is little in their training that has equipped them to take on an insurgency in their own country by their own people.

In the same vein, the original PPP virtually created the Taliban in 1994, when Benazir Bhutto's interior secretary, a retired army general, trained and nurtured the Taliban, firmly taking them under his wing and dubbing them 'our children'. It has to be seen how the PPP-Z can overcome these parental feelings and stick it out.

Well, the Washington visit has happened and is now all over. Zardari is surely happy to get out of DC and back to New York, his former abode, where he can relax for this weekend and live the good life (at our expense?). He will return to Pakistan with not even blank cheques, the hard cash being but promises to be fulfilled. He has managed to get for us five (used?) helicopters — but no spare parts or night goggles, a gross oversight.

The presidential visit can hardly be termed a blinding success. His presentation at Congress (source of all funds and handouts) before the House Foreign Affairs Committee left some members confused and disappointed, according to a person who attended the meeting. He said little about how the Pakistani government planned to regain momentum in the fight against the militants. And when he asked for financial assistance, he likened it to the government's bailout of the troubled insurance giant, American International Group. (NYT May 6). It was at this sitting that Congressman Gary Ackerman famously quipped Let me be blunt. Pakistan's pants are on fire, to which statement there was no argument from anyone.

And will someone who can, perhaps his ambassador in Washington, please impress upon Zardari that he should refrain from overuse of the personal pronoun about which there has been much public ire as it tends to grate. In an interview with Der Spiegel, when asked what his hopes were of his meeting with Obama, his answer I am hoping the answer will be billions of dollars because that is the kind of money I need to fix Pakistan's economy.

In his Washington Wolf Blitzer of CNN interview he stated I need drones, and confidently stated my government is not going to fall. Later, in his remarks to the press he referred to my democracy. He might also now play down his frequent references to democracy being the revenge for his assassinated wife, as he also could abstain from replacing the image of the founder of the nation with Benazir's image in his country's official offices and residences — this does not wash well with many and does nothing to boost his failing approval ratings.

As for the ordinary citizens of the country, will they back the offensive against the Taliban, will they, as much as army and government stick it out? Or, to paraphrase the NYT earlier this month, will the single biggest obstacle to stopping the advance of militancy remain the attitudes of Pakistanis themselves, whose fury at the United States has led to blind support for everyone who goes against it?

arfc@cyber.net.pk