Change is manifesting itself in Pakistan, but to expect that change will be over night and this change will wash away the mistakes of the past, would be naive.

The task, confronting those whose believe in this nation was rudely abused by the policies of Z. A. Bhutto and then by General Zia-ul-Haq, is not one of only amending the laws and righting the past wrongs, but also includes the near impossible challenge to alter the mind-sets of a society that have been wrapped by the ideologies of hate and ideals of false expectations. As young nation, Pakistan is finding the balance between its flaws and its idealism and as such; it oscilliated between liberalism to conservatism and is leaning back towards its original stance.

The process, which is underway presently may not reap its final fruits for another generation or so and those amongsts us who bemoan the fact that what is being changed is not enough or is too late, fail to realize that what is significant is not the idea of change itself, but the process of change. The Women’s Protection Bill, though it does not please all those who would have wished an end to the hated Hudood Ordinances of 1979, has after a long time shifted the process of making laws from the opinions of a small band of clergy and placed it within the domain of the parliament, where such laws should be rightly considered.