While the rest of the country is reeling with issues of poverty, extremism and terrorism, some members of the country’s august assemblies are consumed with issues of polygamy.

One would’ve expected the ruling coalition to maintain unity in their ranks and set their sights on winning this war against militancy, instead however, they are engaged in fighting their own petty wars. In Karachi, they are killing each other.

It was a grisly finale to what must rank as one of Pakistan’s deadliest years.

Will this government be allowed to play out its term or will it be booted out?

If there is a political government in place, shouldn’t it be making its presence felt instead of barricading itself in fortresses. Using the security forces to protect your own lives while the awam have little or no shield against the brutalities of the extremists is no way to win the support of the people in this war on terror.

Among the more notorious violators of the law are the avaricious feudal lords sitting in the assemblies who own acres and acres of land, in addition to sugar and flour mills. And who, when it comes to the crunch, band together to preserve their own ostentatious lifestyles, their Prados and Armanis, while they peddle dreams of roti, kapra aur makan to the masses, alongside.

The masses are witnessing yet another sordid episode in the never-ending saga of the PPP and PML-N’s on again/off again war-of-words affair. And the media is having a field day pulling out an assortment of characters from the dustbin of history. From former and present ministers to former and present governors to Rangers and strangers – in short, anyone who will squeak. Why, even the wily ‘midnight jackals’ have been resurrected.

Are lawyers and legislators exempt from the law of the land? Increasingly, it appears to be so, given the manner in which they have taken to violating the law of the land with impunity. TV audiences were shocked to see footage of four lawyers thrashing an assistant sub-inspector ruthlessly, ostensibly for his damning investigation indicting a client of one of the lawyers who was involved in a kidnapping case.

Why do politicians bother to stand for elections to the national and provincial assemblies, when they are not even interested in attending the assembly sessions once they are elected?

Some government officials still continue to live in a state of denial. Take the Punjab law minister, for instance. He saw an “Indian hand” in the recent suicide bombing of Rescue 15 and the ISI headquarters in Lahore in which 30 people were killed and around 300 injured. Can’t a legal mind fathom that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan are being hit hard by the army operation in Swat and that they are retaliating in the manner they know best: suicide bombings?