WE have become adept at having skewed priorities. The country is being torn apart by terrorism, the economy is in dire straits and we focus all our energies on a treason trial.

One can understand why the PML-N wishes to try the former military leader. He toppled their sitting government just days before Nawaz Sharif was planning to declare himself the all-powerful amirul momineen. He violated the Constitution twice.

That initial and grave violation of the Constitution was endorsed by other key institutions such as the judiciary and the ‘engineered’ parliament in the country. Hence, Gen Musharraf is being tried for the November 2007 proclamation of emergency.

Some say the 17th Amendment by parliament after the 2002 election granted immunity to all players involved in carrying out and endorsing the Oct 12, 1999 coup. But the 18th Amendment passed by the last parliament took away that blanket endorsement.

An October 1999 coup trial can’t be risked as it could rope in all those who subsequently cleansed themselves of their sin by saying no to a dictator or yes to democracy. Particularly because these things can build a head of steam and lead to unanticipated events or consequences.

Law and principles dictate that Musharraf or any other person no matter how high the office they may have held be held to account. There can be no disputing that. But wasn’t democracy supposed to be the best form of retribution?

Had the PPP and its leadership not played their cards dexterously, no matter how weakened by the Restore Judiciary movement, Gen Musharraf could still have been in power both in Islamabad and more significantly GHQ.

Whether the PPP negotiated a deal with Musharraf to see representative rule or merely to seek relief for its top leaders facing corruption charges and to protect their personal wealth is a moot point.

What isn’t is that the PPP was not the only beneficiary of this deal, of the much-maligned NRO, as it facilitated the removal from the scene of the Sharifs’ nemesis and placed them at the helm in the key province of Punjab. One doubts the last election result could have gone the way of the PML-N had the party not been in power in Punjab for five years preceding the poll. Look at how contemptuously the Punjab electorate treated them when they weren’t viewed as serious contenders for the throne.

Try Musharraf all you wish if only to rub his nose in the dirt as even blind believers in Nawaz Sharif don’t think the prime minister will send the former military ruler to prison. They say whatever the sentence, if delivered by the court, he’d be pardoned, the point having been made.

In the interim the government will have to ensure that the former general’s security is foolproof as the threat to his life is real and grave. And no I am not referring to the semi-assembled IEDs found near his home recently. The TTP doesn’t do such shoddy work.

But the ‘find’ did indicate that there might at least be individuals loyal to him in the institution even if his (former) institution is not behind him as he claims. This, of course, doesn’t mean that fear should trigger decisions. Prudence does need to rule.

He is out and out cold in political terms. Would there be a point in resuscitating him? Where a media circus around his trial goes on churning out hours of meaningless output, many real issues aren’t getting the attention they merit.

Writing in this newspaper earlier in the week, eminent law-enforcement expert Tariq Khosa was lucid about how we are all over the place in terms of our counterterrorism strategy, in even setting up the National Counter-Terrorism Authority which was to serve as the nucleus of our effort.

I guess when Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is done with his foreign policy review, this might show up on his list of ‘to do’ things. Little wonder the Punjab chief minister decided to set up his own, ill-thought-out, counterterrorism force and then saw sense and beat a hasty retreat.

It isn’t as if the opposition is doing any better. PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been fighting over the wrong real estate. What some are calling the BilaWall is an irritant to many citizens. Ego and machismo on any side isn’t going to sort out the problem. Experts in security construction will.

Yes, even my rudimentary know-how tells me that Bilawal House can be made secure without the area residents having to make detours and local businesses to suffer debilitating losses. The threat is clear and potent. Only how it’s being dealt with is debatable.

The PPP should focus on other real estate. One brought to my attention by a letter in Dawn. I was enrolled in one of the finest boarding schools in the country for a year in 1973-74. Not many will know it was in Hyderabad, Sindh: Public School, Hyderabad.

Occupying acres and acres of prime land adjacent to heavily urbanised Latifabad it used to be a fine institution, committed to excellence. Its faculty was top drawer. Many board positions went to its students; its superiority in sport was only rivalled by Cadet College Petaro’s in the whole province.

Starved of funds, it is threatened with closure. Drooling developers are leaving trails of saliva all over its many lush green playing fields. Will saving an institution of excellence and restoring it to its past glory figure in the Sindh government’s priorities; will the government show its commitment to the cause of education?

With great sadness my honest answer would be a resounding no.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com