Many sympathies for the poor soul of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Every poster of the pro-Musharraf faction of the Pakistan Muslim League carries his portrait along with the election symbol of bicycle. Look who is claiming to preserve the ideology of Quaid-i-Azam, the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and their ilk.

The poor gentleman, who gifted the nation with an independent and a free state, had lost his life fighting for the supremacy of the democracy and civilian rule. The self-proclaimed keepers of the Quaid's ideology are not only disillusioned, but hypocrites.

 Disillusioned because they could not realise what damage their actions would cost the nation, and hypocrite because to safeguard their personal interest they can go to any extent.

 Jinnah always wanted civilian authority over the armed forced. He expressed it time and again during his addresses and speeches. He was a foresighted person, who, perhaps, realised how the generals would be creating trouble for the country. He was strongly opposed to any type of role of the armed forces in civilian affairs.

 Now 60 years after his death, people are tarnishing his name with their words and actions. A recent statement by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain of the King's Party – named itself PML-Quaid-i-Azam – is enough to expose the party's past, present and future.

The PML-Q chief defends a political wing within the Inter-Services Intelligence, popularly known as ISI. The agency, through this wing, has penetrated deep into the national politics, maintaining links with almost every politician. According to the PML-Q chief, ISI’s political wing has the mandate of spying on the political parties and keeping the government updated whether or not they are involved in any anti-state activity.

 Pakistan has had seven elections since 1970. Of them, it is generally agreed that the 1970 elections were free, fair and unrigged. The political wing in the ISI was created by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto under an executive order. The successors of Mr Bhutto used the political cell against the democratic governments – twice against his daughter.

 In 1988, the People's Party contested the elections under Benazir Bhutto, but the agencies created and patronised a rightwing alliance called Islami Jamhoori Itehad. Nonetheless, the PPP emerged as the largest single party but very much short of majority. It was allowed to form a government under a power-sharing deal which severely restricted the powers of the prime minister. Since the army was dissatisfied with Benazir Bhutto from the very beginning, her government was dissolved in 1990.
 
 A new election in October 1990 gave the highest number of seats to Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and he formed a coalition government. Years later, in a case where Habib Bank was charged with having given large sums of money to ISI, it was accepted by the then army chief, Aslam Beg, that the money was distributed by ISI to various political parties other than the PPP in the elections in 1990.

 In 1993 both Nawaz Sharif and President Ishaq Khan had to quit after the latter dismissed the former and the Supreme Court declared the dismissal invalid. Fresh elections brought Benazir Bhutto to power. In 1996 Benazir Bhutto was dismissed by the then president, Farooq Khan Leghari, earlier installed by her in the office, and the new elections once again brought Nawaz Sharif to office.
In October 1999 when Nawaz Sharif dismissed the then army chief, Gen Pervez Musharraf, his senior lieutenants staged a coup. Consequently, it was Sharif who was sent packing. And memories are still fresh how the loyalties were purchased before and after the 2002 general elections to ensure that pro-Musharraf league formed its government in the centre and three provinces.
Obviously in a nation where the chief justice and scores of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts can be removed in one go and placed under house arrest, it is too much to expect an independent election commissioner or free and fair poll.
 
Mr Musharraf terms the upcoming general election as mother of all elections. Be it the defeat of Fatima Jinnah against General Ayub Khan, alleged rigging in 1977 elections, formation of the Islamic Democratic Alliance in 1988, Mehran Bank Scandal in 1990 and formation of the PML-Q in 2001, the agencies cannot get away from the blame.

But why the intelligence agencies indulge in such controversies? Do they get pleasure out of it at their own? Or are they commanded to manage certain situations? The analysts deny the agencies work on auto to destabilise every incumbent system. They argue the beneficiaries of their manipulation are the real rulers of that time.

Pakistan's history shows every military dictator so as the agencies were lucky enough to get political opportunists. Same was the case with General Musharraf. As a result, the PML-Q was formed when Nawaz Sharif was languishing in Attock Fort.

 But the situation seems quite different after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. She used to carry the hopes of many as the best bet for restoration of genuine democracy in Pakistan. Her death has brought the country's main opposition parties together in their collective anger against President Pervez Musharraf. Many analysts suggest Sharif now is the standard bearer of this opposition being the only remaining credible national leader left. But to the chagrin of many inside Pakistan, the United States and other western governments continue to support Musharraf.

 Now retired from the army, Mr Musharraf pledged to hold a free, fair, transparent, and peaceful election. But, meanwhile, a report from the New York Times said the United States was considering a possible expansion of CIA authority and more covert action by the military in Pakistan's tribal areas. If carried out, it could turn into a major crisis for Musharraf.

 According to Stephen Cohen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Pakistan would face a fundamental crisis in five or six years, Benazir Bhutto's assassination may bring that about sooner than later.

 But a commentary in The Guardian mocks at the idea of a crisis in Pakistan. In the last fifteen years, it says, Pakistan's "unlikely existence has always been continually said to be threatened but [it] has always, albeit chaotically, continued."

However, the International Crisis Group suggests restoring democracy will require Musharraf's resignation followed by a full restoration of the constitution alongside an independent judiciary. Only God knows what turn the highly unpredictable Pakistani politics will take in the months to come.