A few evenings ago, driven by a desire that I can now see as insane, I happened to flick over to my favourite TV channel, Pakistan Television, which, if there be any justice in this world, will be compulsory entertainment for every confirmed sinner when he arrives at the outer gates of hell.

There I saw a bizarre sight: three high-toned pontiffs - a bishop of the cloth, an ex-law professor and someone who looked an outright rogue - singing the praises of 'the removal of doubts ordinance', a piece of legal gimmickry whereby all the Islamic provisions of Pakistan's moribund Constitution have been included in the Provisional Constitution Order. Leaving nothing to chance, these experts were hammering the point home that this was another bold step (every step in Pakistan being a bold one) towards Islamization.

I am sure these professors of the airwaves were not the only experts hauled up by PTV for special duty on this subject. But their enthusiasm was a reminder of how PTV has regularly insulted the intelligence, or what there is of it, of the Pakistani people. No matter what folly a government (any government) purveys, PTV is programmed to hail it as an act of the highest statesmanship. Resurrect Hitler from his ashes and provided you bring him to Pakistan, PTV will hail him as mankind's saviour. Although it was only one programme I happened to watch, that too in passing, I am sure the pattern is being repeated and PTV's captive audience, helpless in the matter, is being made sick with the hidden virtues of this ordinance.

And what is this earth-breaking ordinance about? It takes the Islamic provisions of the Constitution - the Objectives Resolution, the principles of policy, the other articles which refer to the Quran and Sunnah - and makes them part of the PCO. By doing this it has earned the plaudits of the many clerical armies in Pakistan which somehow succeed in fooling every ruler even though, as every blighted election in this land has shown, their sound and fury are worse than their bite. In other words, the Islamic provisions have been saved as if, without this timely action, they stood in danger of being extinguished. By such momentous undertakings is life in Pakistan defined. The received wisdom is that the military regime has succumbed to the pressure of the clerical brigade. This is far from the truth. From the clerical brigade noises were being made about protecting the Islamic provisions of the Constitution. But there was no pressure, if by pressure something tangible or real is meant, which could deflect the military regime from its chosen path. There was only a chorus of ill-trained voices raising the bogey of Islam in danger. Against such a threat there was no need to be clever. Or even to be brave. The religious lobby has always sought to draw attention to its existence, and its nuisance value, by such tactics. It is for governments to read such situations correctly. If they cannot, and if they see danger or opportunity where none exists, who is to blame?

The clerical armies are of course crowing with delight but why should they not when they see a tough-sounding military government, the commando motif written all over it, retreating twice in quick succession? First over the anti-blasphemy law, now over this false play of shadows on a distant wall. What will become of the liberati who were pinning such hopes on what they fondly believed was a Kemalist revolution?

In referring to 'the removal of doubts' ordinance I was not inventing anything. The language of the ordinance contains this gem: "The Provisional Constitution (Amendment) Order, 2000, has been deemed necessary for removal of doubts and to reaffirm the continuity and enforcement of the Islamic provisions contained in Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It is considered expedient in the public interest to remove all such doubts." What does this reveal, a guilty conscience or an over-clever attitude? What doubts and in whose minds? Certainly not in the minds of the people of Pakistan who, if they have reacted at all to this sorry business, have done so with a weary yawn.

What if this ordinance had not been issued? Was there, in that case, a lurking threat of paganism creeping into the suspended articles of the 1973 Constitution? Was there any danger that once democracy was restored - a distant prospect, given the experiments General Naqvi seems intent on carrying out in its name - the Islamic provisions of the Constitution would disappear? Whence the fear that without timely action Pakistan stood in danger of being declared a secular state? The Pakistani clergy can stand anything: the ignorance and poverty of the people, the country's involvement in dubious foreign adventures, the country's entrapment in humiliation at the hands of outsiders. The nation's iron begging bowl moves it not. But show it the rag of secularism and all hell breaks loose.

At the heart of our collective existence resides a strange contradiction. On the one hand, corruption and a readiness to break every rule in the book. On the other, a positive mania for Islamic affirmation. It is not enough to pass the Objectives Resolution. It must also be included in the constitution. Official stationary must be inscribed with the kalima. The framework of government may be on the verge of collapse but every pretence at work must begin with a recitation from the Holy Quran. We'll do nothing to improve PIA but before every flight an appropriate prayer must be recited. This is not piety. This is not even hypocrisy for hypocrisy is a conscious act meant to fool others. This is plain self-deception. Unable to fight the real world on its terms, we seek refuge in a moral superiority and a higher sanctity which are figments of our imagination.

Islam is not a fragile vessel although to hear the good and great of Pakistan talk it seems as if Islam stands in need of constant protection. In the subcontinent it has been around for a thousand years and, like other religions, will remain till the end of time. Its existence and safety can never be in doubt. What is in doubt is our ability to create a polity in line with the injunctions of Islam.

What does Islam command? What does it stand for? The creation of a polity, in the here and now, based upon justice and egalitarianism, freedom from fear, freedom from want and hunger, tolerance towards all. In an Islamic state a dog must not go hungry even by the banks of a faraway river. This cry of the Caliph Omar (one which I can never stop quoting) is the true essence of the faith rather than empty ritual, meaningless gestures or doctors of the faith splitting hairs on television.

In the whole of the Islamic canon there is no denunciation more severe than that directed at the Pharisee, the self-righteous person who has pretensions to superior sanctity. Since independence we have done nothing so much as to turn this into a nation of Pharisees. Listen to our words and look at our actions. A profounder gulf between two separate notions could not be drawn.

If we cannot create a state based upon justice and fair play a hundred Objectives Resolutions will avail us nothing. If the poor live in misery and want, if there is one law for the powerful and another for the weak, what does it matter if we call Pakistan an Islamic or a secular republic? The form of things is important but not as important as their substance.