When CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry defied him on March 9, 2007 General Musharraf was at the height of his power. Becoming an ally in the so-called war against terror after the tragic event of 9/11, he had become a darling of the west. Mian Nawaz Sharif and Ms Benazir Bhutto were both in exile. The 'Q' League, his handmaiden, was singing his praise everywhere. The MQM - enemy of the army at one time - was fully in support; their leader Altaf Hussain articulating the line from abroad. Above all, the army stood behind him. For Iftikhar Chaudhry to stand up in defiance of Musharraf in these circumstances was an act of great heroism. Indeed, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the father of the nation, believed that parliamentary democracy was the only way forward for the new nation. When he noticed the urge for potential adventurism in the army soon after the creation of Pakistan, he emphatically declared that the army would work under civilian control. Unfortunately, Jinnah died in September 1948. Exactly after ten years from that point, General Ayub Khan, the C-in-C of the army, sacked the civilian government in a coup d'etat and took over in October 1958. The germ Jinnah had spotted right in the beginning had become a monster. With nobody of Jinnah's stature around, the monster kept growing. Ayub onwards, the army became the principal arbiter of power in Pakistan and covertly or overtly remained in control. When they were not ruling directly, they were the king-makers. Even as popular a leader as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had friends in the army helping him. General Yahya who took over in 1969 in an in-house coup from Ayub was a friend of Bhutto's. General Gul Hasan and Air Marshal Rahim were his buddies. Yahya held the general election in December 1970 with unintended results. Bhutto's PPP won 88 seats in the National Assembly (none in East Pakistan) while Mujibur Rahman's Nationalist Awami League won 162 seats. But rather than allowing the Awami League to form a government, a military operation to subdue the agitating, restless Bengalis was launched in East Pakistan on March 25, 1971, further deepening a sense of economic and political deprivation in the people of a majority province. This unleashed the forces of separatism. To escape the resulting violence, some people took refuge in (Indian) West Bengal; and that gave India an excuse to attack East Pakistan in 1971. The defeat in the 71 War with India was the lowest point in the prestige of the Pakistan army, an institution that had been once revered by the people. But in less than six years, the army had recovered enough to take over the government once again. Following widespread public demonstrations against his government, General Ziaul Haq arrested Bhutto and took over in July 1977, trying ZAB for Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan's murder, leading to his hanging in April 1979. Zia ruled till 1988 when he went down in a mysterious air crash along with a number of generals, the US ambassador and the US defence attach. Ghulam Ishaq Khan (a former civil servant) who was the chairman of the Senate took over as president of the country but not before he was approved by the GHQ. A general election followed and a PPP government came into being. Two years later, Ishaq used his discretionary (though controversial) power to dissolve the government. Between 1988 and 1999, the establishment played musical chairs with Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif, either serving as PM twice, the army calling the tune. In October 1999 the army struck again when Mian Nawaz Sharif, an elected prime minister, tried to replace General Musharraf as the COAS, something that was within his constitutional powers to do. The army reacted with another coup. All indications are that the army retains power even after the last February elections held in Pakistan. They were an integral part of the deal that helped Musharraf be given a safe exit. But the result of that single act of defiance on the part of CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 9, 2007 was a countrywide Lawyers' Movement that has now gone on for nearly two years. The lawyers and the media were major factors that forced the return of exiled politicians, the general election in February last year and, finally, the resignation of Musharraf. With the civil society, youth and political workers joining them, they are stronger than before. Indications are that the long march planned by the lawyers to be held on March 9 is going to be eventful. Another result of that act of heroism is the awareness in the people at large of the importance of the rule of law and an independent judiciary. Given the chaotic political conditions in the country and the precarious security, the importance of the rule of law for the survival is becoming evident. There, in my view, is some light at the end of the tunnel. The writer is a former ambassador at large