All the religions in the world have not been able to restrain man's insatiable desire to gain power, wealth and influence at the expense of fellow human beings and at the cost of environment. It is responsibility of the state to regulate this greed through strict regulatory controls and surveillance. When the custodians of the state become partners in the common greed, chaos follows. What is happening in US is a bye-product of poor governance by politicians who have no sense of morality and total disregard for principles as basic as avoiding conflict of interest. The US will be able to come out of its self-created crisis at great cost to its taxpayer but, unfortunately, countries like Pakistan neither have a sound base of strong institutions or economic strength to help it tide over the chaotic disarray that threatens us. Without a strict regulatory control and institutionalized monetary policy, where personal agendas are not allowed to eclipse the wider national public interests, our very existence as a viable sovereign state is threatened. Musharraf's legacy of institutionalized corruption along with Shaukat Aziz's unethical economic policies that legitimized plundering of state assets, must be buried for good. The army must confine itself to its legitimate constitutional role and an independent judiciary free from executive control be allowed to provide justice and relief against excesses committed by a powerful ruling elite that has bankrupted all our institutions. -TARIQ ALI, Lahore, via e-mail, October 3.