All fixed for 2007 elections in Pakistan.

All fixed .....? All fixed?The picture of a young man stripped of his clothes in the leading papers represent the degeneration of our militarized society. General Musharraf has finally reached where Ayub was after his decade of development, Yahya after December 1971, and Zia after his referendum in 1984 when he had given the nation a choice between "Zia's Islam or nothing". In other words it is the beginning of the end. The relatives of the missing wanted to march up to the GHQ to lodge protest for the release of persons held against the law. Where courts cannot protect the rights of the citizens, street turn into courts and the victims become judge, jury and the executioner. Similar scenes were witnessed during the periods in previous regimes before the bell tolled for the rulers. This goes to show that we are at an absolute stand still on the scale of human rights ever since the coercive forces swamped the institutions of the state. Senator Babar Awan claims that Musharraf cannot contest polls even if he sheds his uniform as he has already taken the oath of the office of the President twice. Benazir and Nawaz Sharif have been declared ineligible under the same rule. When Zia wanted to continue by all means (by hook or crook), he said to his Chief of Staff Gen Rafaqat after dismissing Junejo in May 1988: "Pirzada kay pas kuch masala hai." (Shareefuddin Pirzada can wriggle me out of this jam). So we don't need to worry too much, the general will find a way. When Baluchistan, NWFP and Sindh are fixed, politicians have been fixed, as logical follow up, why should not the election be fixed? -ASLAM MINHAS, Karachi, via e-mail, December 30. Daily Nation, Lahore, Pakistan. dated 19th January, 2007.