Incompetence of this high order may not be against the laws of nature. It is certainly against all known laws of politics. The credibility of this government was already poor. Now after this latest debacle over the appointment of judges it stands shot through and through. Its word already carried little weight. Who will believe it now?

Just days ago Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani had shown a touch of steel while speaking in the National Assembly, injecting thereby a spark of life into a virtually demoralised and lost party. But all in vain because his defiance was tied to a lost cause: the appointment of judges. Differences of interpretation there may be on this score but the bulk of legal opinion maintains that in this regard the final word is that of My Lord the Chief Justice.

A climb-down from the high position the government had taken was thus inevitable. But it is the manner of the climb-down -- akin more to capitulation -- which is likely to exact a heavy political price in days to come. Even on the one point where the government could have stood its ground -- Justice Ramday's ad hoc re-appointment -- it has beaten a retreat. If extensions are not a good thing -- there being a near-consensus in the country that we are better off without them -- the Chief Justice could pertinently have been asked why Justice Ramday was so indispensable.

But by Wednesday afternoon when the CJ came calling on the PM -- in itself an unusual event -- any notion of standing up to anyone or for anything seemed to have deserted the PM, defiance transformed, almost miraculously, into all-out conciliation. Speaking in the National Assembly that evening, the PM was a subdued man, like someone roughly chastened by the hand of immediate experience.

Right from the start questions were asked about this government's capacity and competence. In the wake of this latest debacle they are bound to intensify. It is not that conciliation should not have been attempted. But why the necessity in the first place to get into a mess from which the only way out was abject surrender?

Reinforcing folly is no good thing. This mantra every army recites. But self-created folly, that too repeatedly, inevitably raises questions about one's ability and understanding.

Starry-eyed souls, no doubt clutching at straws, had convinced themselves that the PM's stature had risen in recent days, especially when set against the ineptitude radiating from the Presidency. Alas for short-lived hopes. After this spectacular climb-down Gilani stands reduced to his original size. And it's going to remain like this, politics being a cruel business where blown credibility is never easy to restore.

But Gillani has had his moment in the sun. Two years is about the average span of Pakistani prime ministers and he will soon be completing two years in office. What more can he have hoped for?

To his credit, he hasn't been a Farooq Leghari to Zardari, standing staunchly by his benefactor in the storm unleashed by the NRO judgment. But standing by Zardari, because of the baggage he carries and the reputation for unrivalled skill in high financial matters he holds, is an impossible undertaking. Angels would have failed in this endeavour. How could a mere mortal have succeeded?

Any hopes of this government changing its stripes or reforming itself must now be buried. President Zardari has proved many things, none more conclusively the notion that he is incapable of change. In his praise it is said he is loyal to his friends. His record shows he is also loyal to his failings. His reputation, as mentioned above, is testimony to his skill in matters of high, and arcane, finance. But his ineptitude for government stands fully exposed.

Last February he had set out to conquer Punjab when taking advantage of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's unseating at the hands of the Dogar judiciary he imposed governor's rule in the province. We know how that adventure ended. It might have been supposed that proper lessons had been learnt. But this February, almost as if to commemorate the memory of last year's discomfiture, we saw a fresh adventure unfolding: this time an attempt to take on the Supreme Court, with what results we all know.

On many counts Zardari is a lucky man. Only luck could have brought him thus far. Only luck explains his rise to the presidency, no small matter even in a third world country. But his luck seems to be wearing thin. He is now in waters too deep for him and how long he manages to remain afloat is now a matter of intense speculation.

We know his legal advisers, faces virtually, all of them, out of a rogues' gallery. Will they face any music? Not likely, given the President's loyalty to his acolytes. Which almost makes this a Greek tragedy. You know where certain things will lead. But you cannot escape their shadow.

It wouldn't much matter if this were just a personal tragedy. But this is also tragedy for the nation. We know the President's proclivities, his strengths and weaknesses and where he comes from. But we are prisoners of the dynamics which have brought him to his present position. It was Hugo who said there was nothing worse than an incurable destiny.

Turning to related matters, Iftikhar Chaudry is already the most unusual Chief Justice in our history. Other high jurists have stood up to military dictators but for all their rectitude and adherence to principle they fell by the wayside and their names are only dimly remembered. Chaudry is one high judge who stood up to a dictator and not only survived to tell the tale but has been twice restored to his position. Which makes him the Pakistani Muhammad Ali. Ali won his heavyweight crown thrice. So it has been with My Lord the CJ.

In the museum of his triumphs hang many trophies, the Zardari/Gilani climb-down the latest in the list. He has still much to do and the way ahead is long and, given our national troubles, full of pitfalls. But the responsibility on his shoulders relates as much to what he should do as to what he should refrain from doing.

A fount of justice and hope for the deprived and downtrodden he must remain, and officialdom must continue to quake at the prospect of being summoned in his presence. He must remain a friend of the environment and of trees (about the most threatened things in our Republic) as he has always been. Of all wrong-doers, no matter how highly placed, he must remain the scourge.

But the time may also have come for a slave, even if an invisible one, to stand by his side and whisper into his ear, according to the Roman custom, "Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal." Power and popular acclaim can go to anyone's head: general, popular demagogue or even a judge. If there was a time, as his critics maintain, when he had a weakness for publicity, he is now far above the need for publicity to prop up his self-esteem. Through courage and grit, he has already carved out a unique place for himself.

One of the hallmarks of greatness is the ability to concentrate on the essential and ignore or do away with the non-essential. There are important matters before the superior courts. They should concentrate on those. It should be none of their business to fix the price of sugar or petroleum products. If the judiciary's is to be the last word as regards judicial appointments, does it not follow that the executive authority's word should be the final word as far as higher bureaucratic appointments are concerned? To each its own. That is the principle on which a federation runs.

It might also help to take to heart Bacon's admonition, in his essay 'Of Judicature': "Judges ought to remember that their office is…to interpret law, and not to make law or give law: else will it be like the Authority claimed by the Church of Rome..." There is also much to be said for the related caveat: "An over-speaking judge is no well tuned cymbal."

In fact the entire essay is no bad guide for any judiciary.



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