While we allow the US to play us to suit there own ends, in the Great Game, wherein they have succeeded in destroying what was left by the Russians, of Afghanistan, till today that country is an empty deserted shell of pockmarked buildings, doorless and windowless, and a deadly minefield, killing and maiming hundreds of Afghans, mostly children. After 9/11, Musharraf did their bidding, while giving room to the militants to establish themselves firmly in the Northern areas, having been convinced by them that they in return would ensure his remaining in power. The US thinking otherwise encouraged the secular ANP to emerge as the weak majority. With the PPP and the PML-N playing their own power games in the centre. The judges issue is just one of the pieces on the chessboard that was being manipulated by the two main players. One cannot believe that the PML-N really placed such a high value on the CJ's restoration, when their candidate for the presidency Siddiqui is the very same judge who mounted a rebellion against Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, at that time the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. That was indeed a sad moment in the history of the judiciary, with briefcases of cash, and an elevation to the presidency. So the sanctity of the Supreme Court was known to all, and the game was well read by Asif. The choice of Siddiqui exposed the hollowness of the high moral ground, and the true nature of the motives. It is indeed a pity that the PML-N thought so little of the Pakistani public to foist such a candidate upon the nation as president no less. However this does not in any way excuse the neglect of the Northern Areas, or the pending strikes of the Transporters, or the 7000 containers stuck at various points - in just a matter of eight days, or the effect of a 14 percent slide in the rupee, not to mention the 20 billion dollars wiped off the Stock Market. In only six months. The monumental problems facing our people are only exacerbated by the insistence of the restoration of the judiciary as of prime importance. The prime ministership is the most important position in the country. It has been relegated to that of a rubberstamp which is not in keeping with the dignity or power of the office, and so Asif Zardari should have claimed it, and run the country from that office. But he has been advised against it, and six months have been spent trying to gain the presidency. He was also advised to take the ISI under his wing, but the army put paid to that. It does seem that there is a very powerful and convincing group within the ambit of the power circle, which manages to convince the leadership into committing these blunders. And time and again they fall for it. Musharraf with his sacking of the CJ. Nawaz for his sacking of the COAS. None of these moves was necessary, and all met with disaster. This quest for the presidency is totally uncalled for and has polarized the country and may or may not succeed. If it fails the consequences would be horrendous. The PPP has some very intelligent people in the party, surely they should not allow such advice to be followed. What then are the advantages? The PPP has the government in the centre. They should get on with providing us a better Pakistan to live in. Attaining a prosperous Pakistan would get you re-elected every time. Asif himself is a very shrewd communicator, and his skills should be employed in negotiating with the tribesmen for that is the single most important issue facing Pakistan today, and of the region. With 300,000 refugees from Bajaur sitting in Peshawar it is already a huge humanitarian problem. His dealing with Maulana Fazlur Rehman in 1988/90 had everyone dazzled, and the Maulana was his ever since then. Now the world is a much more dangerous place with the Maulana's area in the centre of it. This will be Asif's greatest achievement, personal, and for Pakistan. The writer is a political analyst