I was shocked to read this news piece today in Dawn ^[1]. Probably I still have many hopes buried deep inside from the ones in power … Should I lay them to eternal rest?

Have a read yourself:

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari visited the headquarters of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on Friday to attend a briefing on the security situation, sources told Dawn.

The presence of Mr Zardari, who is neither an elected lawmaker nor a government official, in the important briefing surprised observers here because such briefings are held exclusively for people under oath.

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The sources said the prime minister and his team were briefed on the current situation in tribal areas and along the borders.

Such meetings are a routine matter and heads of intelligence agencies brief new government functionaries on the security situation to help them formulate future policies. The nature of such briefings is so sensitive that the president or the prime minister is required to go to the headquarters for first hand information, and non-government functionaries and low-grade intelligence officials are not invited.

No official handout was issued about the briefing and ministers belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were tight-lipped about Mr Zardari’s presence in the briefing.

Meanwhile, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Tariq Majeed and Director General Strategic Planning Division Lt-Gen (retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai visited the Prime Minister House and briefed Mr Gilani on the country’s strategic assets and various projects undertaken by the division to make the country’s defence impregnable.

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On Political front a lot more is going on than we are thinking …!

God help the country!