"DO your judges still cover their heads with horsehair? Invited or not, they visit us. Some dump on us copies of what they proclaim to be historic judgements they have written. Others tell us they are in Washington for medical treatment for themselves or their wives."

This was said by a US Supreme Court judge to a man who had identified himself as a national of Pakistan, and who could only grunt and groan in response and do his best to uphold the honour of the country's judges.

The horsehair referred to was the wig worn by the former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Nasim Hassan Shah in his photograph printed on the cover of a booklet containing his 'historic' judgement restoring Nawaz Sharif and his corrupt government dismissed by the then president in 1993.

The medical treatment referred to was that of the wife of the present Chief Justice of Pakistan, Irshad Hassan Khan.

We now have another 'historic' judgement handed down last week by a bench of seven, headed by Justice Bashir Jehangiri, in the appeal against their conviction for corruption of the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and her husband Asif Zardari.

Their guilt is doubted by none, not even their own defenders. But would the duo have been able to do what they did, robbing and destroying this country, without the aid and abetment of others? Dismissed for the first time, their re-entry into the government was expedited by none other than President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the man who in 1990 had sacked Benazir's first government on charges of corruption, vociferously citing her husband Asif as being the most corrupt of the corrupt lot. After he had dismissed her successor, Nawaz Sharif, and his government on the same charge in 1993, Ghulam Ishaq sent for Benazir and Asif from London where they were biding their time, and himself swore in Asif as one of his caretaker ministers. Has anybody been able to calculate the loss to the country caused by the two rounds of Benazir's governments?

Now to the latest historic judgement, which records the taped version of a conversation which took place "between Saifur Rahman and Qayyum J." I can swear on oath that I was present in Saifur Rahman's office one day when he received a telephone call from the then Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Rashid Aziz Khan, reporting on the good work his court had done. Saif told him that he had done well and that he would convey the good news (whatever it was) to Mian Sahib.

The judgment makes it crystal clear what the honourable judges of our Supreme Court had in mind. Paragraph 36 reads: "The record reveals the glaring injustice meted out to Asif Ali Zardari, appellant, when the Court [Ehtesab Bench of the Lahore High Court] declined to grant him permission to recall certain witnesses for the purpose of cross-examination.... It may be pointed out that because of freezing of assets and funds, the appellant, Asif Ali Zardari, had expressed his inability to engage a counsel of his choice to cross-examine those witnesses.....".

The question that arises is, do Their Lordships really believe that Benazir and Asif are living below the poverty line and surviving on food ladled out in soup kitchens? Perhaps the judges were not made aware of the fact that their lawyers in Karachi have been handsomely paid, and that, knowing their clients as they did, they took their money in advance. As far as their law suits in England are concerned, it is a well known fact that the duo engaged senior counsel Lord Lester and a string of other leading counsel to plead for them, and various firms of solicitors, all of whose fees ranged up to 600 per hour, or, roughly speaking, some 1,000 rupees per minute.

The last paragraph of the judgement states, "Before parting with the judgement we are inclined to dispose of the plea of Mr Abdul Hafiz Pirzada, learned Sr. ASC, to the effect that Asif Ali Zardari, appellant, had already served out a substantive sentence of imprisonment, and therefore, he is entitled to be released from jail. As we have already sent the case to a court of competent jurisdiction, it would be more appropriate if this matter is agitated before the court aforesaid.'

We must be thankful for small mercies.

How can any sane man who lives abroad, have dealings with Pakistan and hope to safely invest his money here and prosper, bereft as we are of law and order? Anybody surfing the net, seeking information on this country, will come across a well read publication, the Information Times, published in Washington DC. (http://www.InformationTimes.com). On April 18, the Information Times carried an article on "44 wanted men, fugitives, crooks, criminals, thugs, smugglers, robbers and thieves of Pakistan who are wanted by NAB." Each person listed is ably qualified to be a respected member of any international swindling, smuggling or money-laundering organization.