In the latest episode of Governor Salman Taseer vs the Pun jab Government on the Ombudsman issue, the governor was rather taken aback by the audacity of the Punjab government and by the sheer ease of managing the whole affair effortlessly during the Eid holidays. It also clearly demonstrated the total control of Punjab government over the bureaucracy, which had no qualms about acting on the advice of the CM secretariat. The governor with all the wisdom and sagacity of his esteemed office - declared on his return that the Speaker National Assembly has gone beyond his limitations and as a consequence of his erratic behaviour the Speaker would not be allowed to become the acting Governor next time he leaves town. I personally believe that the issue bothering the governor - and which one can totally sympathize with - is not the appointment of Ombudsman but that he was denied the opportunity of oath taking ceremony of the Ombudsman. Of course it is not every day that he can have an excuse to get dressed for some official business, arrange for a hullabaloo, get the media circus going, invite a large number of assorted Jiyals, put on the famous sun shades, come on the podium and have a field day with a comic performance. But why was the government of Punjab in such a rush to install the Ombudsman? The fact is that it was around six months that the post had been vacant with no less than 6,000 cases lying pending with the department. No progress could be made in those cases until the office of Ombudsman was filled. It is however true that the cases are of the common man and hence of no real consequences in the universe of the rich and famous, so used to the jet set of the glamorous life. Most of the cases pertained to such matters as the payment of pension to the widows of employees, the illegal suspensions of employees, different grievances of mostly lower staff of government departments, etc. There was also the issue of the 230 contract employees of the provincial Ombudsman whose contracts could not be renewed because of the vacant office. Two hundred and thirty families faced the immediate threat of unemployment and financial crisis. In this particular episode the choice was not very tough for Shahbaz Sharif. On one hand there was the issue of more than 6,000 families awaiting relief from the office of Ombudsman for months and on the other hand was the bloated ego of the governor to be considered, which was effectively blocking all passage to logic and reason. The governor was very much aware of the fact that because of the delay in the oath-taking of Ombudsman the plight of the suffering families was being aggravated with each passing day. It was also in his knowledge that according to the constitution the government is authorized to appoint the Ombudsman and the oath has to be administered by him, and yet for reasons best known to him, he allowed thousands of families to suffer mental anguish and distress and refused to set the date of the oath-taking ceremony after several reminders by the Punjab government. They say that all happy families are happy in the same way but all unhappy families are unhappy in their own ways. Who can describe the untold sufferings of white collared families who are in financial crunch for various reasons but have limited options of any respite in the system? Who can grasp the gravity of the situation when a widow of a government employee is left waiting endlessly for a small amount of funds but cannot get what is due to her without reaching out to the court? The office of Ombudsman also called the poor man's court provided some relief to those people who had nowhere to turn to and therefore it was urgently important to make it functional again. The Chief Minister Punjab made his choice as expected and acted promptly. What the government did was according to constitution and very timely. The Ombudsman is stationed in his office now, the contract employees are back in their seats, the pending cases are in the process of being wrapped up and the round has been won fair and square by the government. The governor has yet to recover from his bruised ego.