FIERY-brand speeches and anti-Musharraf harangue rendered with body language are the predominent characteristics Ali Ahmed Kurd, President, Supreme Court Bar Council, is readily identified with.

He was on a TV channel the other day complaining about the judiciary not coming up to the expectations of the people as well as the lawyers.

Surprisingly, Mr Kurd went on to say that there are Pharaohs still seated in the judiciary from the lowest court to the highest forum of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Mr Kurd made an ascerbic reference to the Chief Justice's recent visit to the Adiala Jail and wished that the CJ would also frequent the lower courts to personally witness the corrupt judicial system accessible to a common man and that too if he can afford to grease the palms and face humiliations at the same time.

I couldn't agree more than what has been reiterated by Mr Kurd but it will be extremely unfair if the Chief Justice alone is held responsible for reforming the depraved judiciary.

It is just one component of our state's machinery which as a whole is fuelled by bribery, dishonesty, exploitation, extortion, nepotism and venality of all sorts.

It is my unshakeable belief that this nation can only rise from the abyss of disgrace when we are able to survive on our own and give up the appalling existence that is at the mercy of the West for more than 62 years now. Ghalib's verse aptly comes to the mind for describing the sentiments of a loyal Pakistani

O death! The liver, turning to blood, has not yet dipped out of the eyes;

Let me live a while longer for there is much left for me to do.

HAROON R. SIDDIQI
Karachi