Admittedly, Musharraf would prefer that the proceedings against Sharif, which he requires to give legitimacy to the military takeover, be completed swiftly while public goodwill lasts. No doubt, the military's declared intention to book defaulters and recover default-ed loans totalling four billion dollars – or one-third of the national budget – has the wholehearted support of the Pakistani people. But this could fast dissipate if recovery is not efficient or, worse, if well-connected members of the elite were seen to be shielded. Besides, for all the anti-West sentiment sweeping across Pakistan, the country is precariously dependent on international monetary assistance to service its $32 billion debt and to fatten its extremely meagre foreign exchange reserves. How will the rest of the world, to whom most of Musharraf's hesitantly read out statements on state television appear to be addressed, react? Barring suspension from the Commonwealth, which would be almost automatic given the1991 Harare Declaration, governments across the world have toned down condemnation of the sacking of a democratically elected government, for fear of sending an isolated military regime teetering over to the forces of fundamentalism.

But with a series of explosions targeting American and United Nations installations in Islamabad on Friday, coming on the heels of demonstrations elsewhere in Pakistan against imposition of sanctions on the Taliban regime next door in Afghanistan, Musharraf's ability to extend this blackmail could be severely curtailed. The general's sympathisers have been peddling a bizarre theory, that the suspension of democracy is in fact merely a prelude to the blossoming of a truly representative system of governance. If Musharraf is at all intent on securing goodwill at home and abroad, if he is at all interested in proving that he is indeed committed to democracy and that is not flirting with fundamentalist forces, he must prove it by providing Nawaz Sharif with a fair and transparenttrial, and thus evincing regard for the rule of law. Sadly, his track record does not provide much hope.