A NEWSPAPER of Dawn`s stature is expected to support the rule of law. If the law requires a declaration by a candidate to the parliament to be complete and truthful in his declaration under oath and a candidate does not comply with the law as determined here by all five judges of a Supreme Court panel, an editorial such as yours was both unwarranted and unwanted.

It seems lawyers now consider sowing confusion the better part of their job, ratherthan assisungthecourttointerpret the law f airly.

The apex court has deliberately kept itself from judging the more serious crimes here, and used the minimum necessary to do justice to the nation. This wise decision allows the NAB to investigate fully both financial and common crime aspects under protection of the court;it allows the SC to retain its position to hear an appeal against an unf air decision, either way, by the NAB; it allows the SC to attend to many other pressing matters.

No receipts are issued for bribes.

Evidence necessarily is partly circumstantial, partly on record. When nonfunctioning or loss-making companies are sources of `gif ts` of hundreds of millions of rupees over years, a reasonable man may ask `where did this money come from?` Barring a satisfactory explanation, well, a trout in your teacup is pretty strong circumstantial evidence that the milkman is diluting your milk.

Imran Sheikh Toronto (2) SIMPLE as it may seem, the Supreme Court verdict is significant for two reasons. First, It has sent a message to the world that parliament is still not the supreme institution in the country. Nawaz Sharif made this happen when he refused the opposition leader`s advice for framing the terms of reference (TORs)in parliament for probing the Panamagate scandal.

Second, this has proved that if institutions are given due autonomy, they can produce remarkable results.

I do not share sympathy for Mr Sharif as he did not respect popular sentiments. He should have resigned. But it does not change the fact that removing a sitting prime minister is the prerogative of parliamentarians only and not that of the Supreme Court.

The verdict, though it leaves a question mark on the parliament`s supremacy, has made the apex court much stronger than it ought to be. I hope this verdict will prove to be a good one for Pakistan in the long run.

M. Waleed Bin Saad Islamabad