Dr Ijaz Ahsan The government has gone and done it again. The Supreme Court declared the appointment of Mr Irfan Qadir to the post of Prosecutor General of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as unlawful. The government was expected to issue a notification of his removal from the post. However, it has done precisely nothing. The officer first bid farewell to his staff and stopped coming to NAB. However, after several days he appeared at his office again, occupied his desk, and stated that only President Zardari can remove him. In the meantime, the presidential spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, said that the President had not issued any orders to Irfan Qadir to continue work. It seems that the ruling party has made it a habit for its officers to make conflicting or absurd statements in order to confuse the issues. It is a pity that while the country is reeling under the twin attacks of the worst floods and the worst terrorist attacks in the history of any nation in the past century, our rulers continue to spite the countrys courts. Mr Khalid Ranjha has stated that until the government issues a notification of Mr Qadirs removal, the issue will remain unresolved. He said that the notification of his removal should have been issued by the President. Simultaneously, PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif has said that, if Mr Zardari does not act on the courts orders, the PM should stop him from making wrong decisions. But the question is: How can Mr Gilani do that, seeing that the latter is twice his boss, as the President and party co-chairman? You see, if Mian Nawaz wants any improvement in the situation, he should call upon Mr Zardari to give up one of his two offices. Fat chance of that happening, though And then, PPP is unfortunately strongly believes in gaddinashini that even if Mr Zardari Sahib gives up its co-chairmanship, he will still rule over the party through his son Bilawal, the chairman. Heads he wins, tails you lose Nor is this the first time that this federal government has ignored or defied court orders. Consider:  The High Court convicted Rehman Malik in a case; within minutes the President granted him a pardon.  The very next day, Zardari pardoned Rehman Maliks crony, Sajjad Haider, who was sentenced along with his patron, and whose conviction was also upheld by the Lahore High Court on May 17. The President used Article 45 of the Constitution for these pardons. Thus, a constitutional provision meant to be used rarely and with extreme care was used twice in quick succession by the President to save wrongdoers belonging to his party. It seems he plans to pardon every PPP wallah whom a court convicts.  The case of Jamshed Dasti tells a lot. In order to avoid legal action against his fake BA degree, he resigned from his assembly seat. Although for his fake degree, they should have expelled him from their party and prosecuted him for the fraud but, instead, first, they made him an Advisor. Next they gave him a ticket to fight in the by-election. God in heaven But wait a minute. The PM actually addressed a rally in his support, where after naming the superior courts, he said there is also a peoples court, who will decide. I ask you, dear reader, whoever heard of a peoples court in an established democracy? This is simply posturing, to prevent the law take its own course. And this not from an outlaw, but from the PM himself. God help us If the Supreme Court had immediately called him over for contempt, they would have been justified. I, for one, cannot understand why they did not. If they had, many subsequent infractions would have been avoided, and we would have moved on. Sh Riaz, former director of FIA, was provided a clean chit under the NRO and given a prized posting. When the NRO was struck down and the court started taking action, the PM posted away Tariq Khosa, who was diligently prosecuting Sh Riaz. As the court finally sent Riaz to jail, the President ensured that he was released immediately by commuting 25 percent of sentences of all prisoners in the country, so that this one prisoner could immediately walk free This was reminiscent of the NRO where, in order to acquit Benazir Bhutto and her spouse, 8,000 persons guilty of murders and other major crimes were acquitted. In either case, the intention was to rubbish the system of crime and punishment.  Against Malik Abdul Qayyum, despite clear instructions of the Supreme Court, the government took no action in connection with his unauthorised action in writing to the Swiss authorities to close the cases pending against Zardari in their courts.  The Law and Interior ministries delayed a request to the UK government for extradition of ex-President Bank of Punjab Hamesh Khan as much as possible, risking the expiry of the deadline, and relented only when he could be brought back to Pakistan if the very next flight was available. It seems they wanted to show the Punjab government that they were in charge. Since this government took over, it has done everything in its power to thwart court judgements. Even before that stage, it dragged its feet on the matter of restoration of the judges illegally deposed by dictator Musharraf. The purpose was two-fold: to keep the judges in their place, and to avoid the possibility of their opening up cases against Zardari. Governments are supposed to make laws and uphold them. Over here governments make few laws; further, they break the few that are made, whether it is the law against tinted glasses in vehicles, the law on fake degrees, or whatever. Most governments in the past have treated the law with contempt; however, the present one has taken the matter to a fine art. The PPP is by no means alone in having parliamentarians with fake degrees or involved in crimes; the malady is widespread. However, the difference is: the PPP defends and encourages them. A few months ago there was a reaction against the PML-N assembly members who had either fake degrees or had committed various crimes, like the lady who had stolen a credit card. However, the PML-N did not patronise them; it made the corrupt party members to resign from their posts. Likewise, about 20 doctors were caught with fake foreign degrees; the PM did not defend them, though he should treat all his constituents equally One is reminded of the case where a man asked his friend: Why do you support that person? He is a scoundrel. To which the latter replied: Yes, but he is our scoundrel. But surely, persons who hold the destiny of the people in their hands should have a higher standard of morality than that The writer is a former principal of the King Edward Medical College, and a former president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan.