All Safe!

New appointments promise new beginnings and some space for hope: General Kayani hands over the baton of command as army chief of the seventh largest army in the world - the 'Malacca Cane' - to General Raheel Sharif. Kayani led the successful operations in Swat and the tribal areas against extremists, but got public criticism after the Osama Bin Laden raid by US Special Forces. "Negligence" shown by the armed forces explained how OBL could live for nine years right under their nose in Abbottabad and the raid happening without their knowledge or interference. Sharif, an experienced commander himself, is coming from a highly awarded military family and his appointment is met with great respect.

Chief Justice Chaudhry will be released in a few days from his tenure after having exhausted every nook and corner of his office (some would say even beyond that) during his four year term and replaced with Justice Jillani, who is expected to be less of an interventionist as his predecessor, as he denied recently judicial interference in the constitutional domain of the Executive.
Prime Minister Sharif asks for "speedy" trials of terrorists, their cases to be decided in 14 days and judges should be allowed to wear masks and hold trials through video links.

For the first time a US drone hits outside the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Area) a madrassa in a settled area inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one of the four provinces, killing six people including a senior leader of the Haqqani network and prompting a furious response by the Interior Minister. PTI chairman Imran Khan stages another protest demonstration in Peshawar, once more announcing his intention to block NATO supplies "forever", challenging the Federal Government's authority in this issue. His popularity not only among the educated young Pakistanis is visibly vanishing, as his record of governing is mostly limited to the drone topic . "Taliban Khan" is circulating as a little flattering name for his appeasement approach regarding the Taliban.

Fatima Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto's niece, is on her way to Europe and USA to promote her second book, a novel "The Shadow of the Crescent Moon" - a chance to meet her again for a lunch at the Dean's residence together with a few Ambassadors. Carrying the Bhutto charisma with such style and poise she immediately charms all the guests. A lively political round table and as the Dean assigns the seats to the guests he invites two of the Ambassadors - one of them my enchanted husband - to "surrender" at both sides of beautiful Fatima - no need, surrender already complete... ("surround her", he immediately corrects, after a big round of laughs).

Agas' (our girls' club!) daily life is marked by contrasts hard to imagine. One day we are all confined to the Enclave, gates sealed, and all we can do is connect by e-mail (phone services being suspended) and meet for a walk to celebrate the actual space of freedom we still enjoy! Hélas, in sneakers and jeans, we adventurously circle around the embassy compounds and greet our sisters in fate warmly -

and then gain back some little freedom in the following days, heading immediately for a really exciting shopping tour with our dear friend and last companion from the "Wild Gang", a long list of "to buy" at hand, since leaving a post - we all know- means stocking up all those precious worldly goods that we will never be able to acquire anywhere else (never mind if we would ever be able to actually USE them…).
The first stop is not going to be a real threat to our purses, despite the declared availability and welcome of the shop owner, as we are unable to locate the iron hammer that surely must replace the simple door knob to gain access.

The second is already much more of a temptation, but still we leave without much success, as none of us is able to take such difficult decisions as whether the feathers and ruffles should be in matching or contrasting colors - of course all in easy to care polyester and nylon.

The Swiss rules and regulations regarding all sort of safety measures have a long arm and reach even the furthest corners of the world - we are on Swiss territory after all and must enjoy protection, relentless and at all costs. Happy to be saved from another life threatening danger - one we were not even aware of - after a team from Switzerland spent two weeks installing fire alarms in every room with impressive rescue buttons and triple and quadruple fire safety doors - added to the already existing safety doors and barriers - I might consider claustrophobia an interesting new feeling to explore.

Next post - all about the parties, the fun, the teas, fundraising, charity season has began…