IN a letter not sent to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, but meant to serve as a reply to the queries he had raised about the failure of the federal government to appoint a NAB Chairman as directed by the Court, which was released to the press nonetheless, the federal government has taken one step further on the path it has set for itself, which seems to be a readiness to confront the judiciary in the cause of protecting President Asif Zardari from facing the courts. The letter was not submitted to the Court by the NAB Prosecutor General, who explained the federal governments failure to appoint a NAB Chairman in his own terms. Purportedly containing the federal governments reply, it contained a personal attack on the Chief Justice of Pakistan, as well as on other judges of the Supreme Court. The Court presumably knows well how to protect itself from such contumacious attacks, but such tactics will not just damage the Court, but whoever is making the attack, and even more so. If the judiciary is an institution in which the people of Pakistan are not completely confident, even less so is the Executive as an institution. The Presidents friends, where this is said to originate, will find that this underhand tactic, will not help, and the people of Pakistan will get back the money which they were deprived of after the NRO was promulgated. The Supreme Court has struck it down, and the persons against whom cases stand revived include the President, who had assumed the office because he assumed it granted him immunity. The government is showing visible cracks, with it becoming apparent that the Law Minister, responsible for the tactics pursued in court, is not reporting to the Prime Minister, but to the President, who is not supposed to have any role in government. Apparently, the presidential camp, which consists of cronies and appointees, has not listened to those party stalwarts who have counseled restraint, though it should. If indeed the President is innocent, he has nothing to fear from the judiciary.