In Pakistan, the narrow-minded sectarianism of the mullahs has given the secularists a freehand. Pakistan's nuclear programme, unfortunately has been dealt a blow by the insincerity of the Bhutto family. Benazir's mother, Nusrat is reported to have spilled the beans to the US after her daughter was dismissed from office in 1990. Benazir would have even recognised Israel but for the bad manners of the late Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. That is where Imran may oblige if Benazir has not already done so.
Pakistani politicians have no principles.
Intrigue and shifting loyalties are their trade marks. Of no fixed ideological address, they are willing to switch loyalties at the drop of a hat. There, the speaker of the former assembly, Yassin Wattoo, was lured away in 1993 from the Muslim League and offered the post of chief minister. Wattoo and a number of others willingly obliged. Last year, however, when the in-fighting in Punjab escalated, Wattoo was unceremoniously dismissed.