THE decision by the PPP leadership not to pursue the NRO in Parliament has come in the face of total opposition to this Ordinance from almost all political forces as well as the public. In fact, the reversal of the Presidents decision is a reflection of the waning support that exists for him within Parliament; and, with the MQM taking an anti-NRO position, it was clear the numbers were never going to be there for the President to get the Ordinance passed. With the PML-N and Q making it clear they would oppose the NRO in Parliament and outside and the coalition partners of the PPP also backing off, effectively the government suffered a vote of no confidence at least morally and politically, if not legally, within Parliament. Equally significant has been the MQMs new positioning, which will make it difficult for the PPP to assume an automatic majority in Parliament. So it will have to choose between two approaches: One, to continue as in the past, by making deals in order to survive in power with the support of coalition partners. This will leave the ruling party constantly vulnerable to blackmail. Two, the ruling party can actually move to bring about legislation that people have been expecting and count on support based on principles. The Presidency needs to move beyond political wheeling and dealing, and address the very real issues afflicting the nation. A beginning needs to be made with the promised but constantly postponed constitutional reforms to restore the balance of power back to the Prime Minister from the President. Asif Zardari cannot continue playing semantic games with the people; as the NRO issue has made it clear that there is little tolerance left for willfulness and expensive indulgences on the part of the leadership when Pakistanis are being denied the basics of sustenance and being killed either by acts of TTP terror or US drone terror. At a time when the country is submerged in crises, it is a cruel joke on the part of the rulers to focus on legitimizing corruption for the political elite. Instead, it is time the leadership came out of its fortified palaces, showed itself to the people and moved to actually providing governance to tackle the major domestic issues. The NRO issue has shown the political vulnerability of the President and his party. Yet the leadership seems unable to get a grip on ruling effectively. All that happens when the ruling party suffers a political setback is that the Prime Minister reiterates past commitments made. But nothing happens beyond the rhetoric. This time also the Prime Minister has declared his partys intent of moving fast on the constitutional reforms. It is time the Zardari-Gilani combo realised that their words have little credibility; they will have to convince by deeds. That is where they have been found wanting to date.