Maulana winner, Aitzaz runner-up Sir: My Pakistani friends living abroad are more worried about the situation back home than we are. Lately while chatting on the internet, an interesting discussion took place among seven of us. The moot point was who between the two, Aitzaz Ahsan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, is more shrewd, intelligent, smooth and loquacious. Ahsan is Cambridge-educated while Maulana studied in his late father’s Madrassa Kasimul Aloom, Multan. Ahsan completed his education, Maulana left the Madrassa halfway after his father’s death and donned the religious cloak of his father. Ever since, he has been a kingmaker. He was equally popular with Zia and Musharraf, when in fact the two generals were poles apart in habits. Similarly, he was a lynchpin of both the PPP and the PML-N; in short, he has been a political acrobat. But Ahsan is different. He touched the height of popularity when he led the movement for the restoration of judiciary. However, his reputation took a steep dive on becoming the prime minister’s legal counsel. This bargain though, made him a senator and a member of the selection committee of the judges. In the end, however, all of us unanimously declared Maulana a winner and Ahsan the runner-up. MAJOR (RETD) SYED ZAHID SALAM Rawalpindi