Democracy has failed once again. There is no other explanation for the current political turmoil in Pakistan and it is time, the 'independent' media called a spade, a spade. Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf was and is still abhorred by the people of Pakistan because of what he did to Pakistan, his disastrous foreign policy, his failed domestic policies, and his open subservience to America. But the continuation of his policies by the PPP-led government at the centre is also despised just as much by our masses. After their disqualification, the Sharif brothers have launched a vitriolic campaign for power that has further strengthening the belief already in place due to PPP government's poor performance that democracy is never about the masses, it is about politicians. As democracy takes Pakistan two decades back to the politics of the late eighties and nineties, it is time that we moved ahead of personalities and identified the real cause of instability in the country. The only difference between Asif Zardari and Pervez Musharraf, or any other elected representative and a dictator is the process of election. Once in office both chart the same course in following their own interests. That is why today we see the President of Pakistan trying to secure his grip on power and the Sharif brothers standing up to establishment when removed from power. It is time the people of Pakistan rejected dictatorship and democracy and adopted the ruling system of Islam which provided hundreds of years of political stability to the Muslim world. -MOEZ MOBEEN, Islamabad, via e-mail, March 3.