Saeed Qureshi It does not behove the PPP ministers to castigate and revile their former colleague Shah Mahmood Qureshi who held the prestigious portfolio of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. These ministers retaken in the Cabinet are no angels themselves. I wonder if they possess an iota of dignity and honour not to heap indignities and diatribe on Qureshi whose ouster was patently not on the basis of certain pious principles, but for ulterior motives that are now well known. A respectable colleague is now being branded as a villain and unwanted simply because he did not agree with the questionable postures of the top hierarchy of the PPP on certain foreign policy issues notably that of Raymond Davis, who killed two Pakistani citizens. Even if someone like Mr Qureshi, who has been and is still a party loyalist, cannot concord with certain decisions of the party command, he should be given a warm and honourable send off. Has Mr Qureshis personality undergone a metamorphosis in a matter of a few days that he is being vilified and despised and subjected to scathing remarks? By doing so, the minions of the PPP in power are demeaning themselves and not him. The PPP high command seems to be sending a message that whosoever takes an independent stand would be shown the door. The condemnation of Mr Qureshi by the ministers does not lower his stature, rather glorify it further. If Mr Qureshi takes a tough stand against the Indian duplicitous attitude towards Pakistan, and also cannot endorse that Raymond was a diplomat, who enjoyed immunity, then instead of punishing him by way of relieving him of his post, he should be commended for a highly moral, principled and rightful stand. There must be enormous pressure on the President and the Prime Minister from America for dispensing with Mr Qureshi. His sacking bears out the unpalatable fact that a person now under trial for killing innocent Pakistani citizens was more powerful and important than the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, who is also a member of the ruling party with resolute loyalty and unflinching commitment. Unfortunately, it seems that the PPP is being run on personal whims, likes and dislikes and with vendettas against the dissenting voices within the party. The critics no matter how sincere and well-intentioned they may be are being penalised for offering saner and sound counsels. The PPPs revolutionary fervour has been diminishing ever since the incumbent lot of this party came into power. Every good plan or suggestion is sidetracked and every self-perpetuating scheme is floated. The uproars of the masses suffering due to myriads counts, be it power outrages, the scarcity of water, lawlessness, travesty of justice, unemployment, health and education hazards, the poverty or be it poor utilities the government seems to be impervious. So in the case of Davis, apparently the government is bent upon taking the side of the culprit, who killed Pakistani citizens in cold blood for no compelling reasons. I would bet that if a Pakistan diplomat kills even one person in a Western country, he will not be allowed to go his home country. Let all the diplomats carry arms, kill at will in a host country, and then be released because of the diplomatic status they enjoy under the Vienna Convention. The diplomats seldom carry firearms on their body and roam in the crowded suburbs where the ordinary people live. The incumbent Pakistani government is weak, morally bankrupt and unable to withstand external pressures because it has no popular support or legitimate domestic locus standi. It is a kind of a stooge that can lower itself to any depth, even if it means sullying the national honour. What about the devastated families of the three young men, who lost their lives, and what about Shumaila, who committed suicide as she could not bear the shock and loss of her husband Faheemss gruesome murder? Do we have an iota of feelings about the young bride, who embraced death in a state of sheer mental agony and utter helplessness? Even after her death there is no national mourning that she deserves. The people in power have stony hearts. Senator John Kerry is a friend of Pakistan. He along with Senator Lugar sponsored the Kerry-Lugar Act for the allocation of $7.5 billion aid to Pakistan over a period of five years. During his press conference, in Islamabad, with regard to Davis case, he maintained a low and humble profile. He quoted the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in order to appease Pakistanis and solicit support by way of pardoning the US citizen. But, at the same time, he weighed the adverse implications for Pakistan in case Davis was not freed. His main thrust of the argument was that by virtue of his diplomatic status the murderer was entitled to be released and handed over to the US for the American courts to try him. He also argued that it was not an infringement of the laws of Pakistan, if Davis was released under the provision of diplomatic immunity. Indeed, the Mozang tragedy puts Pakistan in a very tight corner, and it would be interesting to watch how the Pakistan government can accommodate the American request or pressure for the release of Raymond Davis, and simultaneously justify it before the people of Pakistan as well as meet the imperatives of Pakistani laws. The writer is a Dallas-based freelance journalist and a former diplomat writing mostly on International Affairs with specific focus on Pakistan and the US. Email: qureshisa2OO3@yahoo.com