While the events of May 12 left the nation in a state of shock and disbelief, the government’s subsequent response has also been less than edifying. On his visit to Karachi, President Pervez Musharraf made the incomprehensible statement that there was no need for an inquiry into the proceedings of that fateful day and that we must all now move forward. This would suggest one of two possibilities: either he fears that a thorough inquiry would unearth facts that would cast the government and its allies in extremely bad light with serious political consequences; or, he considers what happened on the day to be not of a magnitude that warrants such an inquiry. In either case, his view hardly sits well with the presumed response in such circumstances of a government genuinely concerned about uncovering the reasons for its failure to prevent the widespread loss of life and property of its citizens, regardless of who was responsible. But it is a sign of the times — of unprecedented judicial assertiveness — that soon afterwards the chief justice of Sindh High Court (SHC) Sabihuddin Ahmed appointed a bench of seven judges for conducting an inquiry into a complaint by the registrar and judges of the SHC that they had great difficulty in reaching the premises of the SHC on May 12. In another strange move, the chief minister of Sindh, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, then took it upon himself to announce the formation of a 3-member inquiry committee to the same end. On being informed by the registrar that the inquiry was already underway before the bench he went on to announce that an overall inquiry of the May 12 incidents would be conducted by a retired or serving judge. In which case why not ask the SHC bench already seized of a closely related matter? Presumably, it will do so in any case in the given context. And a Supreme Court bench has moved quickly to take suo motu notice of the attempts at intimidation and harassment, in the aftermath of May 12, against a number of journalists who were simply performing their professional duties.It appears that the executive has yet to appreciate the gravity of the dangerous slope on which it is putting the nation by continuing to compound the mistakes that have been made. President Musharraf has pointed emphatically to the need for showing respect to the army. This was a reaction to some of the slogans raised against army rule on the occasion of the address to the Supreme Court Bar Association in Islamabad by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Surely no one contests the army’s role or service in defending Pakistan’s geographical frontiers. But then according to President General Musharraf the army is already back in barracks so he cannot figure out what the problem is. There are, of course, the broader issues in terms of the military’s role that need to be resolved. Among these are its huge business interests investigated in Dr Ayesha Siddiqa’s latest work ‘Military Inc.’ whose launching at the Islamabad Club was blocked on Thursday at the 11th hour, doubtless by one of the government’s smart political strategists, ensuring thereby that the book figured in front page news in a number of national newspapers and rapidly made it to international news agencies as well. But more immediately, there are at least two problems relating to President Musharraf himself, contributing a great deal to the present instability. First, the president’s desire to continue with his uniform which he is now apparently beginning to discover as being akin to a second skin. Second, there is the president’s ambition to be re-elected for a second term by the present assemblies. And, given his peculiar notions of democracy what are we to make of the possibility of ‘extra-constitutional measures’ that he has alluded to? One thing is certain: any game plan that seeks to ignore the growing clamour on the street and bypass free and fair elections is a recipe for disaster. President Musharraf should make no mistake about the shift in the political centre of gravity in the last few weeks. The military remains a powerful institution with a significant role to play, as in all countries. But, in its own long-term interests as much as in those of the nation’s it must recognise the principle of civilian supremacy and the imperative of a strong judiciary for a modern and democratic state. Such an institution is also the best guarantee against corruption that at least at the beginning of his long stint in power was a key concern for the president. For the first time in Pakistan the Bar and the Bench have come together in a mutually reinforcing dynamic. And regardless of divisions that may exist along different trajectories, it is difficult to miss the intensity and spread of the consensus on constitutionalism, judicial independence and democracy. The passion and energy that informs this critical consensus was evident yet again at the recent address by the CJP to the Supreme Court Bar Association in Islamabad last week. Hopefully the urgently needed shift, referred to by the CPJ’s counsel Aitzaz Ahsan on the occasion, from a security state to a welfare state that Pakistan was originally envisaged as, can also become a part of this consensus. The best option for President Musharraf is still one of withdrawing the reference against the CPJ, holding elections under a credible and independent election commission and seeking accommodation minus his uniform with the majority party. For obvious reasons of propriety the CPJ, if restored, will need to absent himself from cases that touch upon matters pertaining to the powers and prospects of the president. The president should stay with his contention that he merely forwarded the reference. If he was not the initiator then there should be no issue of ego involved as far as he is concerned, in its withdrawal. But the more time he allows to pass the more difficult this scenario will become, as popular anger increases and more mistakes are made, rendering the already difficult into the virtually impossible. And, moving further towards the extra-constitutional track will be a service neither to the military nor to the nation. PS: The arrest and humiliation of DIG police Salimullah Khan who took up the case of abduction of women and children related to Munno Bheel, a poor hari, is yet another facet of the ominous disarray that attends our affairs. Abbas Rashid is a freelance journalist and political analyst whose career has included editorial positions in various Pakistani newspapers