In the dialectics of 'absolute power' pitted against the popular will, the victory, after decades of Pakistan's existence clearly points towards limits that public representatives can have in flouting the 'mandate', they achieve through 'juicy slogans' and then forget all norms of democracy and participatory governance, and adhere to pattern, which is 'feudalistic', authoritarian and primitive in orientation. It certainly is anachronistic. 'Power' resides in the people and true to the Islamic thought, the motor of social change is always alnas and nothing else. This progressive view is quite different from the cult of 'individualism' as Carlyle propounded to be the determinant of social change. It is neither 'elite', nor an 'oligarchy', nor a sheer accident of history which transforms a society towards good governance. The Holy Quran explicitly mentions 'people', as the basic factor of social development as well as change. God has given mission to the Prophets only to convey the message of God and of 'inspiring' fear in men and giving them glad tidings of showing them the path; He is not in any way responsible for their decline or advancement, as the people themselves are responsible. (Ali Shariati, The Sociology of Islam, pp 18-19). The whole responsibility rests on alnas. Only they would be accountable for their deeds. Human society, according to Ali Shariati consists of two categories - the pole of Cain (Habeel) and the pole of Abel (Qabeel). The Cain's characterise kingship and aristocracy - a single force as the arbiter and wielder of power. In the Quran, Pharaoh is the symbol of political power. Qarun the purveyor of economic power and Balaam represents the clergy. These are the three manifestations of Cain, described in the Holy Book as mala, mutraf and rahib - representing the brutal, the gluttons and overfed and the clergy, the long bearded demagogues. These three classes are constantly engaged in respectively, dominating exploiting, demanding and deceiving the people. Abel, on the other hand represents different equation - the ruled-God and the people. The alnas is constantly engaged in confronting with the forces of Cain. Authoritarian rulers, martial law and power oriented rulers in Pakistan's nearly six decades of history shows how the masses have been alienated, resulting in the shameful loss of more than half of its territory and a fairly good number of our brothers, who left us as they were averse to 'feudalistic' mindset, so characteristic of the people which now comprises Pakistan. The creation of Bangladesh was essentially due to the Cain-oriented rulers that we inherited in the form of military dictators. Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and worst of all - Pervez Musharraf, who not only suppressed the freedom of people, but patronised sycophants and the avarious bureaucrats. He destroyed every single institution that lends respect and dignity to a nation. Above all, he bartered the 'freedom' of the people to the hegemonistic emperor of USA - Bush - and we are still reaping the treacherous consequences. He was a Cain's personification. The cumulative damage, the dictorial governance has left is mind boggling. The people are now out for a real transformation into Abel's paradigm of respectful inter-existence - a Pakistan of 'new vision'. The tumultuous resurgence people spontaneously gravitating towards a forceful collectivity behind Nawaz Sharif, Aitzaz Ahsan, the Jamaat leaders and Imran Khan, defying all hurdles and obstacles on their way and braving to achieve their objective, despite the cruel atrocities of the law enforcing agencies in lathi charges, incredible tear-gassing and all the primitive methods to scuttle their 'will' miserably failed. It was reminiscent of Bastille like phenomenon (French revolution) only short of aggression on their part, unless provoked beyond tolerance. They were committed to reach the 'destination' no matter how much ordeal they had to encounter. Their 'will' ultimately asserted its dynamics. Only short of two hundred miles or so, the government succumbed to the pressure. Sanity ultimately prevailed and the alnas asserted its will to achieve the dignified restoration of the chief justice. Not that Iftikhar Ch had not committed mistakes in the past, but true to the commands of Allah, the doors of tauba (repentance) are always open, provided it is a sincere and a well-meaning one. The chief justice, picked up courage to defy the high ranking top brass of the army in uniform - an incredible feat-ignited a new hope among the lawyers community, deeply dismayed over the "planted" judges of the ruler, contrary to the grace and dignity of the institution of Qazi in Islamic polity. The lawyers were joined by the politicians and the civil society and an incredible momentum got mounted during the two years' relentless struggle. The prime minister's bold and outrightly courageous action to convince and persuade President Zardari, ultimately resulted in the restoration of the chief justice from his rightful place by a dictator (Pervez Musharraf) through a whimsical proclamation of emergency and dismissing sixty judges of the Supreme Court. It was a fatal blow to the judiciary. People had expected that the post-Musharraf era of democratic dispensation would do away with the legacy of 'brutal' display of power. The split mandate that the people gave on February 18, 2008 was to usher in a truly democratic order of give-and-take political culture, where sharing and norms of cooperation had to be the distinguishing feature as against the dictatorial rules where the masses stoically endured. A new hope got internalised into the people - the chief justice - being its catalyst. Unfortunately the hawks in our political set-up have always done irreparable damage to our political culture. When a voice of sanity was expressed by a seasoned thinker like Sahibzada Yaqub Khan to seek a political solution of the former East Pakistan's imbroglio, the sycophants of the dictator, the hawkish ones took control of his mind and thought process and Sahibzada was considered a coward general. The fate of General Niazi expected to be a Tiger like, ironically, was witnessed in the Paltan Maidan of Dacca as the most deplorable event in the Islamic history, the surrender of around 90,000 soldiers at the hands of Mukti-Bahni - the insurgent infiltrators, General Arora being the Indian commander got all adulation and glory. Mr Zardari started off well, but reneged on his promises, not once, not twice but three times successively, ill advised by the hawkish elements which have surrounded him. The tough action was recommended by the Governor of Punjab to install Governor's Rule, to disqualify the Sharif brothers from taking part in politics, who have such a phenomenal following, which could be gauged from the long march - the ides of March - having ominous bearings in Shakespeare's play - Julius Caesar, it did happen. The governor's credibility sank very low and propriety demanded that he should have resigned, as the example set by Sherry Rehman, a very competent leader. The March 16 is a red letter day in the history of Pakistan, no less insignificant that the Lahore Resolution which was passed for the creation of Pakistan in 1940. With the restoration of the chief justice, the people are quite satisfied that 'real' justice would be delivered to them. With a solid pillar of judiciary, the country is bound to progress; attract investments for greater productivity, which in turn would provide new avenues of employment and consequently play a major role in the alleviation of poverty. The 'elite culture' the favourite of the dictators, will have to account for its ill-gotten wealth at the cost of the poor and the down-trodden people. The dawn of March 16 shall be the harbinger of a very dynamic and resilient society. It is wrong to attribute a single factor, responsible for the success of the people. Their commitment stirred by the lawyers and other segments of society did play very important role. The army refrained from 'intervention' but played a crucial role in counselling the prime minister and the president to opt for the historical imperative to respect the verdict of the people. It was the right step. Surely, the US administration through its important functionaries and no less than the Secretary of State - Hillary - also played a persuasive role in convincing the government of Pakistan to save the country from a disaster which could wash off the fragile political structure. It is heartening that the Hillary and her emissaries did not advise to impose martial law. Imagine, if a Republican like Bush had been at the helm of affairs, Pakistan would have again regressed into military domination for another decade. The difference between the Democratic and the Republican Party of USA is quite obvious. The democrats intrinsically value Democracy. Many people felt humiliated when President Clinton refused to shake hands with General Musharraf, when he visited Pakistan only for few hours, as against substantial stay in India. I think this was the right thing to do. It had an implicit message that 'military dictators' can not deliver good governance. Cain is on the wane and Abel is the harbinger of a truly democratic order. The 'people' are determined to charter their destiny. The writer is a political analyst E-mail: fr786pak@isb.comsats.net.pk