WRITING about his opposition to the candidature of Asif Ali Zardari, my old and respected friend Ardeshir Cowasjee had this to say “Now, let us revert to our mutilated almost incomprehensible constitution which as far as Article 62 goes is clear.

To ... contest the presidential election, a man must be `of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic injunctions`, and he must be `sagacious, righteous and non-profligate and honest and ameen`. No further comment is necessary.”

Ditto for Musharraf, I say; ditto for Ziaul Haq; ditto for Yahya Khan; ditto for Ayub Khan. No further comment is necessary.

Mr Cowasjee goes on “We must wonder how our armed forces feel about all this. After all, the president is not only their supreme commander but he has his finger on the nuclear button ... Zardari and his sycophantic supine political party must ask themselves if he truly qualifies to be a head of state ... democracy ... is not a form of revenge and for him to carry through his ambition (which he has nursed ever since he made up his mind to rid himself of Musharraf) would be an act of vengeance upon his country and its people.”

The above premise is wrong on every single count, the first being that President Asif Zardari will not be able to press the bum button all by his lonesome self and two, because Musharraf did not `qualify` to be head of state either. Also, why does Mr Cowasjee not ask what the Railways `feel about all this`, or indeed the department of sports and culture?

The armed forces, read the Pakistan army, must not `feel` anything at all about `all this` for if Asif Zardari, much as I oppose his candidature too, becomes president of the Islamic Republic he will have been VOTED in; he will not ride into the presidency on a self-propelled artillery gun. And if he wreaks `vengeance` upon Pakistan I will be the first to oppose him.

If they want to stop Zardari, here is what Mr Cowasjee and others must do get on the streets in silent and peaceful

protest in your hundreds of thousands, even in your millions. Hold placards and shout slogans in favour of Mushahid `Mandela` Hussain since you consider him the most suitable of all the candidates; stop the traffic on Clifton Bridge; bring the whole country to a grinding halt, but please, please do not exhort the army to take over one more time.

Let me say here and now that I am all for the army declaring martial law and taking over the country, even by brute force, once again. For that will be the last time the Pakistan army will ever dare to do this! As I have said before in this same space, go on boys, go for it!

There are other voices too, cautioning Asif Zardari that the powers that be will hit him on the head sooner rather than later if he insists on becoming president. Now then, let me make my own position clear. I think that those egging Asif on to become president of the country are actually doing him and the People`s Party a great disservice. Especially because they have advised him to go all the way without taking his coalition partners, and here I mean the PML-N, with him. Much more than this he has repeatedly broken his word given to Nawaz Sharif, both verbal and written and shown on live TV, regarding the restoration of the judges to the pre-Nov 3 position.

Add to this that we no longer hear that the Seventeenth Amendment will be struck off the constitution thereby doing away with Article 58-2(b) against which, and I have said this before, the People`s Party has always fought. Bad, very bad.

My advice to Asif even at this late hour is to, even now, restore the judges according to the Bhurban Declaration, remove Article 58-2(b); stand back from this election and put his weight behind an apolitical person acceptable to the PML-N. There are ways and ways to have the election postponed by a month. And therefore woo back his `elder` brother to keep the Great Coalition alive. The PPP and the PML-N, hand in hand, can jointly do what no other combination can. Then just watch the dictatorship die its well-deserved and instant death.

However, I once again support Asif Zardari`s `right` to stand in the presidential poll and will protest any move by the establishment to interfere in the working of democracy. If he goes wrong, I will oppose him tooth and nail by, yes, protesting peacefully.

Postscript My visit to a refugee camp in Mardan in the company of Major Fayyaz Bashir who has done yeoman service for the refugees clarified the situation for me. I know now that most of the refugees from Bajaur are those poorest of the poor who have left their all to escape daily bombardment and strafing (yes, from the air), some families leaving children behind, even babies sleeping in their cots, in their hurry to escape sure death.

What we don`t know is what is actually happening to the, let us not be afraid to name them, Shias in Parachinar, a huge tragedy in itself. For, the carnage there has very little to do with `tribes` fighting `tribes` it is sectarian, pure and simple, and tens are dying there everyday. There is no electricity; no telephone service; wheat flour is available for up to Rs8000 for a 100-kilo bag; no medicines in the hospitals. Most of their rations come from Afghanistan, a reverse smuggling, because the Thal Parachinar road is closed since months.

The Shias are surrounded on all sides by hard-line Sunni Taliban while the One Man Demolition Squad aka Super Advisor Rehman Malik spouts nonsense sitting in Islamabad the Beautiful.

And why, pray, a ceasefire during Ramazan when the terrorists reject it out of hand? How long will Rehman Malik be allowed to play his silly little games?

kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk