The May 26 decision of the six-member Supreme Court bench in the case of election eligibility of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif sprang no surprises. Justice was seen to be done. Some may argue that the judiciary has once again upheld the law of necessity. The verdict, nevertheless, is redeemed this time as it has not been exercised under coercion by a military dictator to provide cover to illegitimate executive orders or to the abrogation of the constitution. Further, it was received favourably by an overwhelming majority of the Pakistani public, political parties, various organisations and the government, construed as a step towards national harmony. Our leaders and the establishment have been provided yet another lease of life to straighten its chequered history of democracy that has been intermittently interrupted by military dictatorships. The Bar and the Bench of the legal system must live up to the expectations of an unprecedented responsibility to deliver what they preached by never again allowing the law to be bent. The PML-N leadership merit recognition for playing its cards well since the February 2008 elections by not wavering on its stated stands or succumbing to the temptation of short-term gains, despite being outmanoeuvred by Asif Zardari, who significantly consolidated his political hold over the PPP and the government. Nawaz Sharif's patience and consistent policies have however paid dividends, as he has emerged as a preferred alternative to the present set-up. The Western powers that control our money and arms supply lines have gradually accepted him as a moderate from an earlier dreaded image of a sympathiser of extreme religious parties. President Zardari, on the other hand, has fast exposed himself as being out of depth to handle intricate matters of state and appears non-serious. He has routinely absented himself for long periods from the country that has been confronting crises on all fronts threatening its very existence and where his presence and attention is most needed due to concentration of power in the office he holds. He has chosen to sideline the better recognised giants of his party that has resulted in a general perception of poor governance. A recent survey shows the approval rating of the president falling to 17 percent as against 79 percent for Nawaz Sharif. Popularity graphs may alter numerous times during a government tenure that is hardly alien to a democracy and all of us must learn to accept them as a guideline and not as an indicator to throw out the regime. The government is elected for five years and it must complete its designated term if democracy is to take roots, unless a change, if inevitable, is brought about as prescribed in the constitution. The Chief Justice of Pakistan heading an independent judiciary whom the whole nation supported, all political parties, media, the civil and military establishment and our people all in tandem must bear the collective responsibility to ensure that democracy is not derailed. The nation presently is entangled as the unwilling pawn in a war imposed under a well thought out long-term American strategy to control the region in collaboration with Israel and India, militarily weaken Pakistan by promoting internal dissent and discrediting our armed forces by engaging them to fight against our own misguided elements that are funded and supplied through their intelligence agencies. Our geographical location as a gateway to the resource rich Central Asia and the long coastline that we considered assets have become our liability. Their agencies are facilitating indirect funding, supplies of arms, resources and high tech equipment to recruit parts of our population that have been disgruntled due to deprivation and isolation from national affairs. Some of these have developed over the last couple of decades into treacherous forces that are manipulated to kill their own countrymen, destroy public properties and create terror to destabilise the system. Our leaders have a responsibility, as never before, to set aside their internal differences and unite the nation to defeat these external conspiracies. We have scored a political victory by creating a national consensus on the military operations in Swat and FATA and cultivating a public opinion against extremism almost simultaneously as the massive deployment of the army with considerable air cover was fully mobilised. Although the innocent population is far more adversely affected and more of their lives are lost than the militants, this desperate effort for survival as a last resort cannot be allowed to fail and commands general public approval despite unprecedented human suffering. We must now carefully plan and depend on our indigenous resources to take care of the fallout of these operations and the rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes. The frontier people have risen to the occasion by extending hospitality to about 80 percent of the displaced families according to AIRRA and must be included in the government support programmes. The relief camps sheltering the other 20 percent must be developed as self-sufficient units on self-help basis and given full responsibility to run the affairs of the camps themselves. There is no better way to restore their honour by making them fully incharge of the disbursement of subsistence allowance, preparation and distribution of food, maintenance of civic amenities and to cater for their miscellaneous needs while the government restricts itself to provide the expertise, supplies and resources and to overseeing the operations. These proud people in temporary distress must not be robbed of their self-respect and reduced to act like beggars. They must be made to feel in control of their destiny as their right and not by way of charity. It is equally humiliating to see our president trotting all over the world and the prime minister imploring all visiting dignitaries begging for aid (that is unlikely to materialise when needed), in a dismal exhibition of our incapability to take care of our own, while our elite live extravagantly. How can we build confidence and pride in the nation if we extend our hands towards others before exhausting our own potential? We must begin preparations to put an effective civil administration in Malakand Division. A strong and well equipped security force will be required to substitute the army after their mission is accomplished to preserve order and to repel any minor assaults by the remnants of the militants that are bound to regroup in some way. It is imperative to recruit a fresh contingent of security personnel, civil administrators and technical people, preferably from local or adjacent areas, put them through short intensive training programmes and install a comprehensive administrative structure ready to implement the anticipated development programmes. Similar programmes must also be devised in the seven tribal agencies to bring them at par with the NWFP. As I mentioned in my last article we are undergoing a slow revolution observed in the shape of judicial reforms, enhanced self-accountability in the glare of the relentless media and abhorrence to extremism and misinterpretation of Islamic injunctions by ignorant self-styled reformers. The rulers do not have a carte blanche anymore to do as they please, as their actions are subject to close scrutiny by the people. The nation has learned to take a stand and change the course of events. These are the fruits of democracy that are coming our way slowly but surely. The writer is an engineer and an entrepreneur E-mail: k.a.k786@hotmail.com