FOLLOWING the UNs report on Benazirs assassination, Britain has withdrawn General Musharrafs security protocol. No doubt, he has enough resources to replace the contingent with a new one as recently he had been enlightening students in several European universities. However, the decision to take back the security shows that the government there respects the UNs findings and is consequently distancing itself from a possible convict. The British authorities have also decided not to extend visas of SSG commandoes deputed to guard the General. While this snub would deal a body-blow to his hopes of launching a new political party and add to his sagging fortunes, justice demands that he should be repatriated and must be forced to face the charges pending against him in courts. That appears to be a rather tall order because Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has been posing as if he is a mouthpiece of the former President. One had wished that rather than shamelessly blurting out that the General had the right to security in the UK, he would have urged the government to hand him over to Pakistani authorities straightaway so that the investigations into Benazirs murder could be carried out in the true sense of the word. But then it is asking too much from a minister whose name has also been listed in the UN inquiry report. While the British governments decision to deprive Musharraf of his guards is a measure that should be hailed, the absence of an extradition treaty between Pakistan and the UK should not prevent anyone from putting him in the dock. Throughout the course of our chequered history, wayward rulers and corrupt individuals milking the countrys resources in broad daylight, have been seeking refuge in foreign lands on grounds of political asylum, however heinous their crimes. Now is the time when these absconding individuals, with a history of violence and corruption at home, should be forced to return and be held answerable for the evil deeds they have committed. Apart from former Advisor to President Musharraf, Tariq Aziz, who has hurriedly scurried away to UAE to evade the Benazir murder inquiry, or Saifur Rehman facing a number of corruption cases against him for that matter, each and every individual who is now hiding in remote corners of the world must be brought back. But the government must also set its house in order before it embarks on such a journey. Unless it cleans up the mess at its end, evicts the NROd members from its ranks, its crackdown on bad characters and even the inquiry against the killers of Benazir would not go anywhere.