Uniform issue

President Musharraf has now finally decided to retain both the portfolios ie the President as well as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). The nation has not been able to understand the psyche which is compelling the President to keep the portfolio of the COAS.
As the President, he is enjoying unprecedented vast powers under the Constitution, all the major incumbents in the armed forces are directly his appointees, he has the hand -picked prime minister to carry out before his orders without any protest, supported by a cabinet comprising ministers involved in the National Accounting Bureau (NAB) cases by virtue of which they cannot raise their heads against any of his commands and the Parliament too is always ready to endorse his each and every order by passing laws without caring to debate whether the law being passed is constitutional or otherwise. And above all, he has developed a fine relationship with the President of the United States who has recently given his commitment to work with our President during the next four years.
That the holding of the COAS' portfolio is in the interest of running and strengthening democracy is a mere delusion. The 2002 general elections and the consequent democratic set-up comprising the Parliament, provincial assemblies and the unprecedented extraordinary large federal/provincial cabinets, in fact, have not at all changed the pre-election status quo.
Prior to the 2002 elections, the President during his foreign visits used to tell the people overseas that he had already brought democracy to the country: only the label of democracy remained to be affixed. And, ultimately the "label" was affixed but it failed to tangibly change the pre-election status quo and there is hardly any chance of a change. But this "label" of democracy is proving too costly to the nation in the shape of huge expenses on the Parliament, provincial assemblies and the federal! provincial large-size cabinets.
One, therefore, feels why should the nation not do away with this high cost of "label" and revert to the pre-October, 2002 democracy without the "label." The national resources so saved can be utilised for financing the social sector programmes, including poverty alleviation.