YUSUF Abdullah Haroon, a dexterous man, an elusive friend I have known ever since I can remember, and his charming supportive wife Pasha, came for lunch. We have both seen the 'leadership' lot enter and exit, from Mohammad Ali Jinnah all the way down to Gen Pervez Musharraf.

We could hear Musharraf, who we both consider to be the best of the worst lot, blaring away on the television upstairs. We heard him resign — we understood immediately that it was, of course, in the larger national interest of the Republic of Pakistan.

We recalled a meeting back in 1946 when Jinnah visited Karachi, and stayed at Seafield, the old colonial house which Yusuf's father Abdullah had resurrected in the early 1930s and where the Haroon clan was living and still lives.

Present, sitting on the veranda, were Jinnah, Yusuf, my father Rustom and I (who had tagged along). An assistant broke our talks to announce the arrival of four mullahs led by Maulvi Ehtesham. Why, growled Jinnah who was told that they were calling at 'the appointed hour'. Then, I must hear them (meaning, I will tell them what I have to).

They had come to request Jinnah to lead the Friday prayers the next day. There was consternation when he politely refused as they had already announced his presence. They pleaded — were he to refuse their honour would be at stake. Jinnah looked around at us, seeking help. None was forthcoming.

All right, he eventually said, I will come. I will not lead the prayers but I will stand in line and pray with you. Satisfied, they left. He turned to Yusuf. You better stand next to me in the sixth row from the front to ensure that I make no wrong move. It was agreed. As we left, my father told Yusuf to be sure not to let the side down. An apprehensive Yusuf promised to rehearse.

Neither Yusuf nor I 'rejoiced' at the news that day, nor did we stuff each other's mouths with ludoos. We have seen too many come and then leave, biting the bullet, victims of power-seekers, in disgrace, sent to the gallows, blown to smithereens, dismissed ignominiously. And we have seen what came after each exit — a steady, dangerous decline in moral probity and in the aptitude to govern and provide the law and order necessary for progress of any kind.

We know the reaction within the country, we know how the nation stands, we know why and how Musharraf has left us — merely because he did not know, like all good generals must know, when it is time to retreat. But how has the world reacted to the political passing of a man who strode the international scene since 2001? A cursory glance at just some of the headlines over editorials and columns gives us a good idea, and provides a fair commentary on how things are likely to pan out.

'Zardari on the hot seat — corruption allegations still haunt Pakistan's new power', 'Musharraf not the problem, or solution', 'India frustrated by a rudderless Pakistan', 'Another Bushman down', 'Exit the president — the troubled era of Pervez Musharraf comes to an end. New troubles begin', 'Musharraf's mess', 'Pakistan is still not safe', 'A vacuum in Islamabad', 'Celebrations premature', 'Pak-style democracy', 'Musharraf's departure creates pivotal moment in terror war', 'Zardari-Sharif-Kayani troika pivotal', 'Departure will not bring peace', 'High cost of vainglory', 'Fledgling government needs help now', 'Hopes and fears after Musharraf', 'Pakistan's deadly vendetta', 'We may yet miss Pervez Musharraf', 'Musharraf leaves a fractured Pakistan', 'Dream of a secular Pakistan is dead'.

There is a cartoon from the American press floating around in cyber space. It is entitled 'Disasters around the world'. The first box is labelled Sudan and shows the skeleton of a cow in a desert; then Indonesia and a destructive storm, followed by Chile and an exploding volcano. Myanmar has a tsunami, China its latest terrible earthquake, and lastly, Pakistan. What is our image — a grinning Asif Zardari showing us the two-fingered sign.

Is he the most deadly legacy left to us by default by Musharraf and George W. Bush? But for the tragic event of Dec 27 he would not be with us. His gain and profit from that day's loss is immense in every way. But perhaps, discounting fate, chance, purpose or design, it is the grossly illegal and unconstitutional National Reconciliation Ordinance that will be the worst thing bequeathed by the Musharraf regime.

In yesterday's issue of this newspaper, on the opposite page was printed a letter from I. Ahmed under the heading 'Safe exit'. It deserves the reproduction of certain passages.

“Mr Sharif and his party [are] forgetting that the PML-N, which used to be the PML in those days, supported the most conniving dictator Pakistan has ever seen, i.e. General Ziaul Haq. In fact, if it were not for Zia, nobody in Pakistan would have known the Sharif family as a force today.” Indeed, such is the fact. He goes on to remind us “that the key coalition partners are the ones who benefited from the 'safe exit' strategy and indemnity from prosecution through NROs and conditional exile.”

But the crux and thrust of his letter comes at the end “Looking at the status of the Zardari-Sharif nexus, it seems that before his retirement [General Ashfaq Pervez] Kayani will have to become Musharraf, whether he wants it or not. Hopefully, this time Kayani will not make the same mistake (at the behest of the US and Saudis), one big mistake that Musharraf made, of providing them a safe passage out of the country and not prosecuting them....”

These views are shared by a fair number of the non-rejoicing citizenry who worry about the future of their country and what they are leaving for the generations to come.

It has to be said that Musharraf failed miserably to learn from history. We are luckily well out of the old days of the 1970s when a dictator was a true dictator and an army general was able to finish him off.

When the pious praying Mard-i-Momeen Mard-i-Haq Ziaul Haq overthrew the confident brash dictator Zulfikar Ali Bhutto he initially incarcerated him in Murree. Still bending and bowing, Zia called on him. We saw front-page photographs of a gloating Zia sitting subserviently before the fallen man, the man having just told him that he intended to hang Zia and his generals from the nearest lamp-post. Zia's eyes depicted his thinking I will hang you before you hang me.n

arfc@cyber.net.pk