THE World Bank's Governance Indicator Report 1998-2008 being released tomorrow shows Pakistan to have been inflicted by political instability and violence in the last decade, running counter to the Musharraf government's claim of making remarkable progress in stabilizing the country during the past eight years. The report covering 212 countries has measured their performance in six dimensions of governance: voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption, with higher values on the scale indicating better ratings. Pakistan unfortunately has been placed quite low in almost all dimensions. The statistics obtained by a private television channel show it at 19th for accountability, 28th the writ of the government and 21st for combating corruption. It has been lumped together with countries like Afghanistan, Serbia and Ethiopia whose governments have failed to establish their writ. India on the other hand is faring much better on the governance scale. When full details are made public, the report might shed some light on the factors responsible for political instability and resurgence of terrorism in the country. Pakistan undoubtedly suffered the most since becoming a frontline state in the war on terror. It was distressing to see the military regime capitulating to the Bush administration and giving the US-led coalition forces a free run in our territory to bomb and massacre innocent citizens. The relentless military operation killing hundreds of men, women and children, in what is being termed collateral damage spread violence, earlier restricted to the tribal region, into the settled areas. And the entire country was shaken by suicide strikes at a time when growing lawlessness had already eroded the writ of the state. Corruption was rampant. The so-called accountability apparatus remained busy in forcing political opponents in switching over their loyalty to the government rather than nabbing the corrupt. Intelligence agencies kept tyrannizing political activists, journalists and law abiding citizens merely for raising voice against mysterious disappearances and other excesses. It however remains a matter of serious concern that the elected political leadership hardly seems to be showing much interest in solving people's problems. It is too deeply involved in the judges issues to focus on matters of governance at a time when the common man is hard pressed by the all-round spiralling price hike and shortage of power.