It is not understood why our government remains the centre point of scandals, conflicts and controversies rather too often. Why cannot the people at the helm of affairs think straight and act straight. The subject of the memo under discussion these days is such that neither Ambassador Hussain Haqqani nor a freelance Mansoor Ijaz would be personally interested in it. Still it is maintained that our government high-ups have no hand in it. In view of the situation that our corrupt and incompetent rulers have created in the country making the life hell for the common man, their fears and apprehensions of a change constitutionally or otherwise are natural. Treating the Americans as our masters, it was a simple issue of delivering a letter or a message of 'save our soul to the American government. Why such an unwieldy and complicated route i:e from Haqqani to Ijaz to Gen. James Jones to Admiral Mullen and finally to President Obama was adopted. How can you maintain a secret when so many people are involved in the matter? Mr. Mansoor Ijaz may be a wealthy businessman cum free lance writer but I am sure even the Pakistanis who take keen interest in politics heard his name for the first time. How did he become such a trusted friend of our leaders is surprising. The job could have been performed directly by Mr. Haqqani in the capacity of an ambassador or the best would have been to wait for the arrival of a high up from America and hand him over the stuff. If the danger was too imminent President Zardari could have talked to Hillary, Mullen or Obama direct rather than creating such an embarrassing situation. What an unwise and incompetent bunch of people we are ruled by? RAFI NASIM, Lahore. November 22.