(A courageous European let out this secret though wise ones don't spill the beans. Democracy is a style of Governance in which individuals are counted but never weighed). That is it. For all of its 50 years of democracy - by the people, of the people, for the people - what has India got to show ? Just a roly - poly Prime Minister who is only good enough to run a bus service from Delhi to Lahore and making conciliatory speeches at Minara-e-Pakistan. Or to invite a newly self-appointed President and his betterhalf to have a second honeymoon at the Taj on a moonlit night. Except for the "Sare Jahan Se Achcha" bit the Indians could never understand the Allama. Or his wise observations on democracy. The General, of course, is nobody's fool. He knows his history. That is why he holds this number game in utter contempt. Once Pakistan was inveigled (by RAW) to hold India - type elections which threw up Bhutto and Mujib and it broke up the country. The General is convinced election is bad news for Pakistan. May be, just as his predecessors had suggested, "Guided" democracy is the answer. But what is Musharraf to do? His Western friends, supporters and patrons believe in the game of numbers. So he has to put up a grand show of having numbers on his side, hence the referendum. It had the best of both the worlds. It had the numbers game as also it met Allama's demand that democracy better be led by a man of "weight" (calibre). Who else but Musharraf could foot the bill. In addition to his own. considerable `weight' he also has behind him the entire weight of the Top Brass of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. And did anyone say, ISI, as well ? Well may be ! Now that is a lot of `weight' carried by one single individual in the entire subcontinent. Even the Allama would have been pleased to pen a panegyric or two extolling dear Pervez. Two damn civilians had made a mess of things when they had got to the driver's seat. Bhutto divided the country and got what he plainly deserved. And the other one, Sharif, was so eager to please his neighbour, none other than Vajpayee-that he presented Kargil to him on a silver platter and was even prepared to stoop to killing his top millitary official in an air crash which was stopped, in the nick of time. By that time, indeed, every one knew in Pakistan that they had had enough of elected representatives. But the pressure to return to elected democracy by the international community kept rising beyond the permissible level. Even an old friend like an American President (in this case Bill Clinton) looked positively rude when he reminded Pakistan of democracy during his brief visit and briefer appearance on PTV (compared to his exposure on Doordarshan). But thanks to his old friend, philosopher and guide, Osama bin Laden, the pressure eased considerably after September 11. The new President, Bush Junior, almost hugged the General like a long lost cousin. And Musharraf gave a new slogan : "Pehlay Pakistan". It was the closest Urdu adaptation of our "Vande Mataram". Allama Iqbal probably turned in his grave. According to Iqbal the Quran says the Earth belongs to God. Therefore, for a Muslim, who does not recognise man-made divisions of Earth, his religion comes first. When the Maulana persisted, the Allama was so enraged that he wrote a poem denouncing Maulana Madani's concept: