Nawaz Sharif swatted these ‘proposals’ down, saying that in a democracy it is the people’s will that counts; that elections are the only way in which a government should change; that he will not be party to any undemocratic move to unseat the present federal government. —Photo by AP

At a gathering of media people called by Mr Nawaz Sharif recently, I was astonished, indeed saddened, to see some of them faulting him for not adopting a more ‘aggressive’ stance and posture against the federal government, several of them actually pressing him for another long march against the various crises that confront the country.

As one who has seen up close and personal the rancour and the hate that has dominated Pakistani politics for as long as I can remember I have written much for the continuation of the civilised politics we are seeing in our country for the very first time in our lives, during most of which we have lived under one army dictator or another. Seeing and hearing these leading lights of our electronic media, and some of them are very gifted indeed and have huge numbers of fans, I began to see even more clearly the extent to which our country has been brutalised.

Mr Sharif swatted these ‘proposals’ down, saying that in a democracy it is the people’s will that counts; that elections are the only way in which a government should change; that he will not be party to any undemocratic move to unseat the present federal government and that long marches are not the answer to everything. It would be nice to see these sentiments reciprocated by the president.

On Sunday, Lt Gen Iftikhar Ali Khan, my senior at school and in the army, and a gentleman in every sense of the word, was buried at Chakri, his ancestral village. The news report in all the newspapers reads: ‘His funeral prayers … were attended by CJCSC General Tariq Majeed, Secretary Defence Lt Gen Syed Athar Ali, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.…’

I give below the Order of Precedence followed in India without comment:

1) President of India, 2) vice-president of India, 3) prime minister of India, 4) governors of states (within their respective states), 5)former presidents of India, deputy prime minister, 6) chief justice of India, speaker of Lok Sabha, 7) former prime ministers of India, cabinet ministers of the union, leaders of chief opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India, chief ministers of states (within their respective states), holders of the Bharat Ratna decoration. 8) Ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary and high commissioners of the Commonwealth of Nations accredited to India, governors of states (outside their respective states), chief ministers of states (outside their respective states), 9) judges of the supreme court of India, comptroller and auditor general of India, chief election commissioner of India, 10) deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, deputy speaker of Lok Sabha, members of the Planning Commission, deputy chief ministers of states, ministers of the state of the union (and any other minister in the ministry of defence for defence matters). 11) Attorney general of India, cabinet secretary, lieutenant governors (within their respective union territories), 12) chiefs of staff holding the rank of full general or equivalent rank, 13) envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary accredited to India, 14) chairman and speakers of state legislatures within their respective states, chief justices of high courts within their respective jurisdictions, 15) cabinet ministers in states within their respective states, chief ministers of union territories, within their respective union territories, deputy ministers of the union, 16) officiating chiefs of staff holding the rank of lieutenant general or equivalent rank. 17) Chairman of the central administrative tribunal, chairman of the Minorities Commission, chief justice of high courts outside their respective jurisdictions. 18) Cabinet ministers in states outside their respective states, chairmen and speakers of state legislatures outside their respective states, chairmen of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, deputy chairmen and deputy speakers of state legislatures within their respective states, ministers of state in states within their respective states, ministers of union territories and executive councillors of Delhi within their respective union territories, speakers of legislative assemblies in union territories and chairman of the Delhi Metropolitan Council within their respective union territories. 19) Chief commissioners of union territories not having councils of ministers, within their respective union territories, 20) ministers of state in states outside their respective states, 21) members of parliament, 22) deputy ministers in states outside their respective states. 23) Army commanders/vice chief of the army staff or equivalent in other services, chief secretaries to state governments within their respective states, commissioner for linguistic minorities, commissioner for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, members of the Minorities Commission, members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission, officers of the rank of full general or equivalent rank, secretaries to the government of India, secretary to the president, secretary to the prime minister, secretary to Rajya Sabha/Lok Sabha, solicitor general of India, vice-chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal. 24) Officers of the rank of lieutenant general or equivalent rank, 25) additional secretaries to the government of India, additional solicitor general, advocate generals of states, chairman of Tariff Commission, chief ministers of union territories outside their respective union territories, director of CBI, director general of BSF, director general of CRPF, director of the intelligence bureau, lieutenant governors outside their respective union territories, members of the Central Administrative Tribunal, members of the union Public Service Commission, ministers of union territories and executives councillors of Delhi outside their respective rank, principal staff officers of the armed forces of the rank of major general or equivalent rank. Speakers of legislative assemblies in union territories and chairman of the Delhi Metropolitan Council outside their respective union territories. 26) Joint secretaries to the government of India and officers of equivalent rank, officers of the rank of major-general or equivalent rank.

P.S. Try as I might, I have not been able to get hold of Pakistan’s Order of Precedence. Do we have one at all?

kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk