In 1973, whilst Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was in the throes of searching for a suitable president, he being about to promulgate his constitution which rendered all power into the hands of the prime minister, his sharp eye alighted upon old Begum Shahnawaz.

This I learnt from my late lamented friend Iqi Shafi, son of Sir Muhammad Shafi and father of political pundit, Kamran Mickey Shafi. He rang me one morning, highly excited, almost elated. Pack your bags, pal, pack your bags, pack your bags (Iqi tended to twice or thrice repeat vital points), you and I will soon be off on a jaunt, he told me with glee. His sister, Begum Shahnawaz, was about to be made president and his intention was that he and I should 'rush' to Islamabad to join in the fun.

Good grief, I responded (I was not aware that his sister was still alive), how on earth does she qualify? Well, pal, the truth of the matter is that she cannot hear, she cannot see, she can not walk without help, and she can barely utter. She's perfect, perfect. A few days later came another call, unpack pal, unpack. The worst has happened. My sister has regained her hearing.

This story sprang to mind last week, on learning of the news of the appointment of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as the 21st prime minister of Pakistan, as did President Field Marshal Ayub Khan's scathing description, in his famous memoirs, 'Friends not Masters', of the last days of our third governor-general, Ghulam Mohammad, stricken by illness but determined to hang on to office until he had to be sent home in October 1955 (he died the following year).

Chaudhry Shujaat, scion of the Gujrat Chaudhrys, the line founded by his father Chaudhry Zahur Elahi, an A.S.I. of the police force par excellence, who, having realized that politics was good for him, rose swiftly through the ranks, gathering roses along the way. He educated and trained his progeny so that they may worthily follow in his footsteps. By the time his politically motivated murder was executed, the family possessed a row of palatial mansions in Lahore's billionaire's row and a large industrial empire which was eventually to be fully funded by the country's banks and the cooperatives of Punjab at the expense of the poor and deprived of this nation.

Shujaat threw in his lot with Nawaz Sharif, to whom he owes a great deal - not that it bothers him a whit. With the 2002 revival of politics in Pakistan, he leapt into the fray, fully supporting General Pervez Musharraf's plans for the future of his country and assuming unto himself the presidential powers of his breakaway Muslim League. He was of course elected (doubly) and deputed himself to be the one to nominate the 20th prime minister of the Islamic Republic. He could easily have nominated himself, but for reasons best known only to him did not. However, his November 2002 supreme act of self-denial has now paid off.

In October 2002, the elections behind him, he delivered to the nation his powerful political tract entitled 'My Stance', which will undoubtedly be printed in letters of gold in the volumes dedicated to the political history of Pakistan.

It opens up: "A question is being asked why I am not the contender for the top slot. Why? I think a short explanation is due, especially so when I have been elected as the parliamentary leader of the single largest majority party - the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) - to emerge from the October elections. There has been unrelenting pressure from across the nation and from all quarters that I, being the natural and logical choice to head the new government, should not exclude my candidature.

"My family elders saw politics as a vehicle for public service and not for the naked pursuit of power....". After dwelling lengthily on morality, responsibility, humbleness and so forth, he continued, "I am being constantly reminded that under the principles of parliamentary democracy, the elected parliamentary leader of the single largest party in the nation should be the prime minister. But that would mean an action replay of the Bhutto and Sharif families who had made the government of Pakistan a 'maasi da vera' (aunty's backyard).

"This repetition of blind ambitions and dynastic monopoly has to come to a halt. It also means that power is concentrated in the hands of [a] few - howsoever legitimately acquired it may be - at the expense of the nation..... For the sake of Pakistan I am giving up the right to be prime minister of Pakistan when the tradition in the past has been to sacrifice Pakistan for personal political power." Then, "Finally, I bow my head in all humility and gratitude before the Almighty for being vested by my party with the pivotal responsibility of picking the next prime minister of Pakistan during a turning point in history at the start of the 21st century. Make no mistake, I treat this as an 'amanat'. The sole consideration will be the supreme national interest of Pakistan....".

The supreme national interest at that point in time dictated that the equally able and qualified Zafarullah Jamali be the anointed one. Less than two years down the line, the supreme national interest demanded that the Chaudhry of Gujrat renounce his sacrifice, step in, do his duty, and come to the aid of the Republic.Incidentally, where stands the writ petition (18463/2002) filed in the Lahore High Court against Shujaat and his sidekick Pervez Elahi praying that they both be disqualified as members of any assembly of the land as they had allegedly violated Article 8D of the Conduct of General Elections Order 2002 regarding the obtaining of loans from our government-owned banks and financial institutions and the writing off of such loans?

We can do nothing but wish the Chaudhry good health and suffer him for the coming two months, until he is out of office and replaced by a man more suited to the needs of the nation. Apparently, according to a news item last week, the president has mandated that the prime minister regularly consult PML secretary-general Senator Mushahid Hussain on all political and administrative matters. Mushahid, during the naughty nineties, was Mian Nawaz Sharif's acolyte, convinced that from his every pore the sun shone brightly. Spin master that he is, we much hope that he does not even try to convince the Chauhdry that he is Pakistan's last hope and urge him to hang on.

We are equally powerless when it comes to the ability to do something about what must be in place before any progress of any nature can be made - law and order, something the military-run government is qualified and equipped to enforce, but for some odd reason chooses not to (or is it that it cannot?). President General Pervez Musharraf continues to wrongly believe that law and order does not take priority over all else - last Thursday he listed as essential elements for development, 'sustained economic growth, political harmony, and maintenance of law and order'. Does he not realize that without law and order there can be no economic growth and certainly no harmony of any sort?

Has the general been briefed on the inordinate rise in kidnapping cases in Sindh of late? Does he know of the alarming increase in robbery and plunder? All this since his accomplices in power have the last word in provincial matters.

Musharraf maintains he is an avowed follower of the edicts of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of the nation. May I remind him what it was that Jinnah told the future legislators of this country when he addressed the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947 : "...You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state....".

And, to end, a little story for General Musharraf. In May 1940, on the day that Winston Spencer Churchill took over as prime minister of an embattled, besieged Great Britain, he held a meeting with his warlords from whom he heard but tales of defeat and disaster. He then met his ministers and advisers, each in turn telling him his tales of woe. Downcast, he turned to his Lord Chancellor and asked how was the law and order situation. All is in control, he was told, the courts are working normally. A sigh of relief from the great man, 'Then all is well, all is well."

All is not well in the Republic of Pakistan.