ISLAMABAD - It might have been the PML(N)s first diatribe against the former dictator after the recent Supreme Court decision, but Chaudhry Nisars speech did not really spring many surprises as far as laying down of the partys line is concerned. The League has always had an off-with-his-head disposition towards the usurper. It was just more of the same. Only in intensity did it go up a notch, with his stating an interest in invoking Article 6 himself if the ruling PPP did not do so itself. What was surprising, however, was what appeared to be a rapprochement towards the MQM, a party that has no love lost with his own. You are a political force, he told them. Back us on this one, stick it to Musharraf even though you might have been with him in the past. You didnt need him, it was the other way around. Shahbaz Sharif and I once broke bread with Musharraf and he divulged a pretty sinister plan relating to Altaf Hussein. The Leader of the Opposition did not divulge clearly what the plan was but not much was left to the imagination when he said that he told the then COAS to jettison the plans since they would cause an international crisis even though the latter kept insisting that they had the capability. There was another thing that wasnt left to the imagination: how the MQMs Haider Abbas Rizvi would have looked like on the streets of Karachi (not too) long ago. With a chest thumping bravado, he launched off into a diatribe of his own. If the PML(N) tries to garner our support by reminding us of the states force being utilized against us, then we should remind it that the 1997 operation was on the N Leagues watch. And here he has a point. If the PPP and the League want to say that the respective operations were launched to cleanse the nations commercial capital of a fascist, criminal network, then they should stick with it and not try to seek friends in the wrong places. Even if the throes of desperation demand an alliance, all references to the operations should be left alone. Speaking of operations against facists, Chaudhry Nisar did not take too kindly to the operation in Malakand. Not in the way it was carried out but why it was carried out at all. His partys line might have been flipflopping on militancy, but he himself cant be accused of the same. He was against the original ANP-initiated operation against the militants. He was among the first in the house to congratulate ANP chief Asfandyar Wali on the peace deal even though the latter was facing a lot of flak left, right and centre for a perceived capitulation and here he was, again critical of the government taking the fundos on again. Yet again, the PML(N) does not present a clear stance on militancy. Is the League against them like the ANP and PPP are or will it go the JI, Imran Khan way? In his defence, his party can say that he was only referring to the opaque manner in which the said decisions had been made. One day, Sufi Muhammad is a hero, he said, and another day we are told to condemn him. Though to be fair, there was nothing opaque about Sufis actions and his illustrious, anti-state speeches. Ah yes, the speech. Well, if we are to try bechara Sufi Muhammad (Nisars words, not your correspondents) for treason on the basis of one speech, he said, why not try Musharraf for his many speeches? The Prime Minister spoke near the end. He said if the house approves unanimously to try Musharraf, I am with it. This was as vanilla a statement could be: if it rains, the roads will be wet. By giving that statement, did he wish to tutor the house in the constitution? Of course, a unanimous resolution would lead to that but will his own party, which has more of the said house than any other, support the same? And here Chaudhry Nisar is right. With a government that drags its heels on all important issues, it will see all decisions taken for it. An irresponsive parliament will throw everything out of balance. Our nascent democracy does not need this.