A HOT discussion on `abuse of democracy` marked the opening hours of the cross-examination of Sind Chief Secretary, Mr J. Booth, before the Sind Special Court of Inquiry on Monday [July 26]. For the first 150 minutes Mr Dialmal, counsel for Mr M.A. Khuhro, asked general questions without reference to specific charges. The questions related to the abnormal circumstances peculiar to Mr Khuhro`s regime, constitutional practices in Sind and ... practices in other democracies of the world. ... `The charges against the ex-Premier are all slander and libel [said Mr Khuhro`s counsel]. The whole series of allegations is defamatory. I am putting these questions to a cultured man like Mr Booth and would also supplement his answers through books to show that Mr Khuhro did what was being done in all the democracies of the world.

`Mr Khuhro may not be ... a paragon of virtue but he did all what other Prime Ministers in other countries did,` Mr Dialmal continued. ... `How many centuries are we to go back and for how many centuries this hearing shall continue?` the Court asked. `These incidents are abuses of democracy... .