IT IS part of popular legend by now but let me restate it for the record: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s triumphal journey down the Grand Trunk Road on May 5 surpassed all expectations and beat all records. Punjab stands redeemed, its honour saved.

We knew people would turn out, but in such numbers, and displaying so much fortitude and patience? As for the High Court judges who honoured the Chief Justice, honestly, I wasn’t expecting so many to come.

A cleansing experience if anything, for in the space of those 24-25 hours that it took the Chief Justice to descend from the Potohar Plateau into the heart of Punjab, 40 years of accumulated despair and cynicism were washed away. What the future has in store for us I don’t know, and pray God it may be nothing like our past. But that day and night it felt as if the idea of Pakistan, first voiced in Lahore 67 years ago, was being reborn.

Thanks to private television, and the extraordinary dedication of its camera crews and anchorpersons, this was a collective experience shared by the nation, history not only being created but being witnessed and felt in the act of creation. Not something people are likely to forget in a hurry.

Although it was clear it would be sometime before the Chief Justice arrived, no one went home. Nor, even in that sweltering heat, did enthusiasm wilt or eager faces lose their sparkle and lustre. Such things happen when one is in love or, for whatever reason, in a state of ecstasy, when tiredness and fatigue and the passage of time become immaterial.

The mood was festive not angry. Some of the slogans were angry, the kind you hear when insurrection is in the air. But the young men shouting them had smiles on their faces. The crowds broke nothing, set nothing on fire. The atmosphere was that of a carnival and I think it arose from the consciousness that the Pakistani nation after a long slumber was stirring out of its stupor and was awake at last.

Justice Chaudhry has not created these emotions. They lay buried beneath the surface. His defiance, his refusal to submit before military command, has acted as a catalyst and whipped up a storm. The cockiness of authority has vanished. Bastions of power which looked solid before seem to be swaying before the wind.

Speaking at the EME College, Gen Musharraf (referring to the reference against the Chief Justice) said, “I had to decide whether personal relations or whether the state were more important and I stood for the state.” Very touching, and the uniformed officers present clapped (although I was hoping they would have the sense not to), as if overcome by this lofty behaviour.

If General Sahib was trying to be clever then it is all right but if he really believes this fiction we may be in for dangerous times.

Much has changed and some vital milestones have been crossed but don’t expect the beneficiaries of this order to give up so easily. We are in for a long, hot summer. The regime has suffered serious reverses but it is fighting back. The Q League (for which read the Chaudhries of Gujrat) is holding a rally in Islamabad on the 12th, pulling out all the stops to make it a success. The MQM is preparing for a show of strength in Karachi the same day. The Chief Justice is to address the Karachi Bar also the same day.

The battle lines are thus drawn. The nation needs sense and collected thinking at this juncture. What’s it getting instead are the fruits of desperation.

The MQM seems particularly incensed. Why? For fairly obvious reasons, relevant to the situation in Karachi, much cannot be said about the MQM. Still, its response is a bit hard to understand. The lawyers’ movement is for the independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of the Constitution, not for the glorification of an individual. Then why is the MQM taking all this so personally? Surely it too believes in the supremacy of the Constitution.

Arbab Rahim, carrying on the glorious traditions of Jam Sadiq Ali in Sindh, says that no harm can come to his boss, Musharraf, because Allah, America and the army are with him.

Not so fast, Reverend Arbab. The people are the vicegerents of Allah’s will on earth, not a chief minister of Sindh or a chief of the army staff. Islam is the only religion which time and again speaks of ‘the people’. If the Chief Justice’s reception in Punjab is any guide, the people have spoken, showing that they are for the Constitution, not the vagaries of one-man rule. So on what grounds does Arbab Rahim put Allah in the Musharraf camp?

America, yes, it is with Musharraf. Of this there should be no doubt because Musharraf is America’s man, doing what the Americans want him to do, above and beyond the call of duty. Arbab is right on this count.

But the army? Musharraf is army chief but the army is a national institutional, not a personal fiefdom. There are limits to what it will do as a blind instrument of anyone’s will. This is a touchy subject. Suffice it to say that the army will bring down no trees (I hope my meaning is clear) but at the same time pull no one’s chestnuts out of the fire.

The desperation in the Musharraf camp is understandable. So much is at stake and so much seems to be going down. And it’s not as if a civil disobedience movement with hartals and wheel-jam strikes is taking place. National activity hasn’t ground to a halt. Bazaars aren’t shut. Yet a movement led by lawyers, and backed by ordinary citizens, seems to have shaken the regime’s confidence.

Why are people peaceful, why in a joyous mood? For the first time in a generation they have faith in the judiciary. They are hoping that if all goes well, and reaction doesn’t strike back, the Constitution and the rule of law will emerge stronger. At the same time, the frontiers of authoritarianism will shrink. Thus hope is in the air and despondency has been cast aside.The government should have wit enough to understand this mood and the nature of this crisis. It should try to realize where it has gone wrong. It should feel the national pulse instead of resorting to knee-jerk counter-measures which can only expose its lack of popular support. When were things done under duress a match for willingness and spontaneity?

The Chief Justice’s receptions don’t have to be ‘arranged’. They happen. The Q League’s rally in Islamabad on the 12th will have all the spontaneity of a command performance, patwaris, teachers, sanitary and municipal workers, and loyalists of the local government system herded like cattle and brought to the venue of the rally in commandeered transport. Transporters will curse the Q League as will all those trapped in this grand assembly of the helpless and the unwilling.

Shujaat Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi are basically district-level politicians, their outlook and approach shaped and influenced by the requirements of district politics. I am not saying they are not clever but their vision, almost by definition, is limited. They also have huge stakes in this system which hardly makes their advice impartial or disinterested. If Musharraf needs ‘strategic’ advice, he’s not going to get it from this quarter. Shujaat still has a political head on his shoulders. Pervez is desperate to keep the winds of change at bay.

As I was passing Tollinton Market in Lahore the other day, above the entrance of yet another Food Street (food streets being among the more noticeable achievements of this regime) was a jaunty portrait of Moonis Elahi, Pervaiz Elahi’s talented son, for all the world looking like a native version of Caesar about to embark on his conquests. On top was written ‘Pride of Lahore’.

Moonis, I gather, wants to launch his political career from Lahore. He better start visiting Data Darbar and praying hard for the godfathers of this dispensation, because if they go, even with a laser scan he will have a hard time finding a secure corner of Lahore from where to get elected. After these Napoleons…you know what I mean.