WHILE disqualifying 11 other parliamentarians the Supreme Court has specifically spelt out the constitutional adjectives ‘sagacious, righteous, honest and ameen,’ that our ‘one-man everything authority mouthpiece’ Rehman Malik is not.

The judgment now lends considerable qualification to the many other loving terms many in the nation already have given him and the many more that fit the same category. The court has also directed the Election Commission to institute legal proceedings against him and the others.

The Chief Election Commissioner’s office has made appropriate responses. However, given our history, this is where the nation is very likely to wait, without holding its breath too hard, for ‘all to be revealed at the appropriate time’.

The considerable efforts of our chief prosecutor, the AG, to teach former Justice Fakhruddin the basics of law and constitution may well ensure that.

This is the tragedy of Pakistan. At any consequential level, in all our years, no person has been punished for the wrongs they have inflicted on the country.

The result is the geometrically progressive self-destructive disaster that daily permeates through every aspect of the country’s fabric. A man was once asked if he prayed for the leaders of his country. His reply: “No, I have seen our leaders and because of them I now pray for the people.”

While fervently doing that I also hope that this time around the Supreme Court through the Chief Election Commissioner will be able to enforce these momentous and critical decrees.

DR MERVYN HOSEIN Karachi