Amidst the horror that is Gaza and the warlike noises emanating from the leadership of two countries neither of which can afford a war we do seek a little light relief. And luckily, it is not too difficult to find. It is very much there with us, if we care to look. We must thank our lucky stars, doom and gloom notwithstanding, that our television screens and press photographs never fail to offer us glimpses of humour. We have the ebullient Sheikh Rashid, ever present whether in or out, and his undisguised toupee. We have the vocal champion, opposition spokesman Chaudhry Nisar Ali, who never fails to amuse, deadly serious as may be, with his outdated Beatles style wig that for almost two decades has not changed as far as one single hair is concerned. Moving to Sindh, back with us is Qaim Ali Shah as an ineffective chief minister, with a head of hair blacker than ever, and moustache to match. This we forgive him, despite chuckles about the obvious. Then last week, much friendly and sympathetic humour was generated when the accidental president of the Republic was caught on camera after his travels to Kabul. So bundled up was he, and obviously intensely cold, that he was unrecognisable, and having thawed out was barely recognisable at a joint press conference with Hamid Karzai, his non-climatically challenged Afghan counterpart. Poor Asif Zardari, sent off to Kabul in January - so, why all the fuss about the award of the Crescent of the Great Leader to a US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs? That same day Richard Boucher had reportedly stated that drone attacks into Pakistan territory would continue unabated and that the Mumbai terrorists were linked to Pakistan - both home truths. The president has good reason to not only be grateful to Uncle Sam but to demonstrate his gratitude and to do, as all good boys do, what he is told to do. This he does, so far to perfection. Oddly incongruous, given the fraught situation, was the reported statement given to Der Spiegel by ISI chief Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha explaining his reluctance to take on the Taliban. His belief is that they are entitled to 'freedom of opinion', to 'think and say what they believe', which is that 'jihad is their obligation'. Fast on the heels of these two outings came the flexing of prime ministerial muscle power, in the absence from the country of the ruling president, and the first casualty in the break up of the American appointed team put in place to monitor the government. Major General Mehmud Ali Durrani, a US appointee to the post of National Security Advisor talking to CNN-IBN informed the world that Ajmal Kasab, captured in the Mumbai terrorist attack, was indeed a citizen of Pakistan. This is nothing new, it had already been established but in accordance with ostrich policy as practiced in Pakistan could not be officially admitted. Durrani ventured out of the closet, the sidelined Yousuf Raza Gilani took umbrage, and Durrani was summarily 'sacked'. But then, what he had said was confirmed by a text message to AP and Reuters by minister of misinformation, Sherry Rahman who is, at the time of writing, still in place, not being an appointee of the US. It was also confirmed to an Indian news channel by 'a spokesman' of the Foreign Office after Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir had on another Indian TV channel denied the fact that Kasab was a Pakistani. Phew Manmohan Singh had it right - irresponsible and fragile, split down the middle with the two halves at odds with one another. To complete the chaotic charade, a news item informed us that the Durrani dismissal had caused much consternation in the US Pakistani diplomatic missions, with both Ambassador Husain Haqqani and UN permanent representative Hussain Haroon 'rushing' to Islamabad to try to ascertain what is what and what is not what. (An aside on the UN appointment: it is a key appointment and has to be made carefully. The US permanent representative was one of Barack Obama's first five appointees to his forthcoming administration. On what basis was our man appointed?) All this, of course, should not be cause for hilarity, but in the Wonderland that is Pakistan today it is difficult to take anyone or anything with complete seriousness. It may be all gallows humour, as it is far from harmless and is fast debilitating an already semi-paralytic nation. Economically, politically and socially inactive, we have no effective political institutions or parties, and no credible courts, Pakistan is instable and it is surely fragile. The writer is a freelance columnist E-maill arfc@cyber.net.pk