A few supporters of Nawaz Sharif have called me since last Wednesday gloating over the perceived discomfort of President General Pervez Musharraf whilst addressing the nation. Their contention is that the Mian's normal wooden expression would have been far more apt to the occasion. Perhaps, but then, is his wooden expression not invariably a sign that nothing has penetrated his head?

This takes me back to the early 1980s when I was in London. My wife, a physician, and her cousin Feroze Bharucha, a psychiatrist, convinced me that my then state of depression was clinical and I was in need of professional treatment were I to get over it. The psychiatrist referred me to his master. Notwithstanding my protestations that I was merely depressed by the depressing circumstances combined with the English weather, I was persuaded to visit Feroze's professor, a specialist.

The professor had a clean desk, with not one bit of paper upon it, and he sat with folded arms and listened to my recitation of woes, taking no notes, saying very little but agreeing with me wholeheartedly on the weather factor. At the end of the appointed half hour, he rose, saw me to the door, shook my hand, told me to go out and enjoy my life and that he would be writing to Feroze. In his report he reproduced exactly the sequence of events as narrated by me and his summation was that under the circumstances if I were not depressed then there would be something seriously wrong with me which would warrant further investigation.

This is no time for retrospection or introspection, or for the compilation of a never-ending list of our faults, mistakes, misjudgments, stupidities and sins. It is now time to look ahead, to look outwards, thoughtfully, calmly, making haste slowly. What is now urgently and direly needed is an entire revision of our worn-out 'principled stand', our battered supreme national interest, and the high moral ground upon which we claim to rest but which long ago sank below sea level. Our 'moral, political and diplomatic' support stand, under the totally new circumstances, will also have to undergo some adjustments. It will no longer be possible to try and fool the world by using one euphemism or another to cover the acts of terrorists.

The president general may indeed find it troublesome and tiresome to deal with the bigoted ignorant obscurantist one per cent who hold the nation hostage and who insist on perpetuating these useless negative 'strikes' which do nothing but further damage our economy and our international image, but he should be able to at least rein in those who have learnt, those who have served in the army in which he serves, and those who are now, so to speak, kicking this nation in its rear end.

Devious disgruntled men such as Hamid Gul, Javed Nasir and Aslam Beg should be muzzled, or put away into a deep dark dungeon from where their voices cannot be heard. One must give credit to Naseerullah Babar, godfather of the Taliban, as he has not uttered. His fault is that he does have a tendency to jump into bed with the wrong political companions. Rumour has it, he was used to 'negotiate' with the Taliban leadership. If he was, he was the ideal choice. If he was not, he should have been. He is not to be found in Peshawar. Is he in Kabul lecturing Mulla Omar or is he in Dubai conferring with his party boss?

There are over 400 foreign press people in Islamabad right now filing their daily stories. Men such as Hamid Gul find easy prey amongst those not fully experienced or familiar with the jokers in this country's pack. Take The Times (London) of September 19, which on its overseas news page carried the banner headline 'President faces backlash as country splits' over a story on Pakistan with a photograph of Hamid Gul sitting next to one of the mullah fraternity. As we all know, the one per cent, plus the likes of Hamid Gul, are in no way capable of splitting this country. Hamid Gul, a former head of the ISI, a former corps commander, has few rivals in irresponsibility. He is quoted as having said: "The decision to support America under pressure is one of the military leadership and not the decision of the Army as an institution. The nation will never accept. Such a decision by an employee of the state has no validity. If Mulla Omar gives a call for jihad the Islamic world will support it. America's chocolate and cream soldiers cannot compete with the battle-hardened Afghans. Afghans are happy that the Americans are coming because they can take them prisoner and use them as hostages."

Is Saudi Arabia not the cradle and citadel of the Islamic world? Do we visualize the Saudis or the Iranis rising to the Mulla Omar bait? And what about Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh - to name but a handful. Does Gul count upon them rushing to the call? As for the chocolate soldiers, does he imagine they fight with bows and arrows? As a soldier himself (of whatever flavour) he should know how many hours it will take the chocolate soldiers to take out every single one of our 'strategic assets'.

This country is not yet quite capable of going to war against the world. Irresponsible jingoism only sends out the wrong signals and it may well bring the war to us. I am not aware of the preparedness of other parts of Pakistan, but I am aware of things in this city of Karachi. Congested, overbuilt, badly built, criminally built, its crowded shopping malls and plazas, some of them only half-built or a quarter built, its super and other markets, are perfect firetraps. Most of them have perpetual 'temporary' electric wiring - a sure invitation to disaster. The first thing that the busy foundation-stone laying governor of this province should now do is to have all such places surveyed and plans prepared of the ground conditions which should be given to whatever it is that exists of the various fire departments. At least this will be a starting point from which to operate and seek out the existing hydrants.

And have our firemen considered and recorded from where the water will come that is needed for their pumps and hoses in the areas they serve? Then the government electric inspectors should be put to work to inspect all the hanging string-tied electrical connections and close dangerous areas until the necessary repairs are done.

So far Musharraf has taken the right decisions. The people must support him rather than instigate riots against what he has done whilst keeping the interests of Pakistan firmly in his mind. The very minimum percentage should ask their religious leaders to list for them the number and names of members of their families who are now residing permanently or temporarily in the safety of the United States of America. Qazi Hussain Ahmad for one is said to have two of his sons learning or working there.