IN his latest column, `Tarnishing the national image` (Jan 11), Ardeshir Cowasjee has dipped his pen in the controversy regarding the PM`s security adviser, Maj-Gen (r) Mehmood Durrani, and narrating his bright career history and achievements.

Then he quotes “Whilst still in the army, he (Durrani) wrote to the then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, advising him that to his mind conducting a nuclear test as a repartee to the Indian nuclear tests of 1998 would be a strategic mistake. He also made himself unpopular with Sharif by telling him that Kargil was also a grave error and that it would not work to plan”.

Mr Cowasjee then declares that Durrani was right on both counts.

Now, even a child in Pakistan knows that conducting nuclear tests by the Nawaz government was a decision in the right direction as it boosted the morale of our army and the people and dampened the bloated hype of the Indians.

Secondly, Nawaz Sharif has publicly made it clear that he was not fully made aware of the Kargil plan.

Thirdly, what do you think of an army officer writing direct to the prime minister of his country over and above the head of the commander-in-chief? That`s what he did in his last key position.

Prime Minister Gilani has rightly asserted his authority by sacking him, otherwise he would be a tomfool to let everybody in his cabinet to bypass him under wrong notions or backed by foreign elements.

MOHAMMAD ALEEM SHEIKH Karachi