AFTER months of silently hearing government representatives hold forth against the NRO implementation, specifically in the context of the Swiss accounts, and watching some ministers openly challenging the authority of the Supreme Court, the senior judiciary has responded in a resigned manner. Justice Ramday, part of the SC bench hearing the 18th Amendment case, questioned what the judiciary could do where the system itself is moving towards self-destruction. He pointed to the government threats to the judiciary as well as the flouting of SC verdicts. So, despite the PM paying regular lip service to respecting the judiciary and its decisions, the judges also have the same perception as the rest of the nation - barring those in power - which the government is deliberately stalling on implementing SC decisions and challenging the power of the judiciary. This is unfortunate as people have a commitment to an independent judiciary and also to ridding this country of the terminal disease of corruption. However, the present government is making a mockery of the rule of law by doing as it pleases on all fronts - thereby wallowing in corruption and nepotism. In order to defend one man, the whole judiciary is being held to ridicule because of the flouting of its decisions. The fact that the Law Minister had declared that ministers were not answerable to any courts shows the present leaders mindset. With a non-cooperative government, and a NAB that is sheltering the sins of the guilty rather than exposing them, the SC has had to look for investigative help from outside this body. But again the government has put a spanner in the works. Meanwhile, if more proof was needed of the system heading for self-destruction, a look at the general state of chaos within the state machinery is all that is needed. The Interior Minister has been accused of fanning provincialism by the CM of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif. Certainly, by pitting one province against another with labels like Punjabi Taliban, the terrorism issue is hardly going to be tackled effectively. Such is the lack of governance and near-anarchy that even close associates of President Zardari are opting out - the latest being Salim Raza, Governor of the State Bank who resigned Wednesday. Amongst the reasons being cited unofficially are his objections to some key appointments and also to the fact that he failed to get the extension he had been seeking. There has also been the SBPs report which has critiqued the extravagance of the government. It should be remembered that Mr Salim Raza was closely associated, while in Citibank, with the Zardari accounts - according to a US House Minority Report at the time. So his resignation is a reflection of the dysfunctional state of affairs that prevails at all layers of governance. While the judiciary seems to be moving into a state of resignation, the nation is looking to it as its only hope of finally stopping the rot and establishing rule of law.