I am writing this without knowing which former members of the Judiciary are to be appointed by the Prime Minister to inquire into the events surrounding last Wednesday's shooting, but I believe that none of them will resent being addressed as "Dear Colleague".

Bear in mind, all of you, in making up your mind whether to accept the PM's nomination, a number of considerations.

Remember that what you are being asked to do is arrive at a POLITICAL conclusion, a responsibility that in our democracy is reserved to the person appointing you, except that in this case he has abdicated it. The legal issues will be addressed by a sitting Magistrate, in accordance with the law: you are being asked to decide the fate of a Cabinet Minister, and one who is a Big Beast, at that.

This means that you will be thrust into the political arena, an arena you eschewed the moment you took your Oath of Office, an oath that you carried out during your tenure at the Bench, laying the foundations for a reputation that you are still entitled to enjoy.

The person nominating you has made it clear that he does not subscribe to the idea that you are politically independent. His invitation, happily declined, to the Leader of the Opposition for the latter to nominate "a person of his trust" to chair the inquiry makes it clear beyond a shadow of doubt that the Prime Minister assumes, as a matter of course, that at least one of you is a Nationalist sympathiser and he (the Prime Minister) does not trust you.

Your findings will be analysed by the public at large, who anyway by now have decided the matter, and by the media, with its penchant for drawing conclusions that bear little resemblance to the evidence.

Your report will also be looked at closely by us, your brothers and sisters in the law, who know you as well as anyone, if not better. As soon as your names are announced, the cafes around Court will buzzing with predictions and comments, as you well know.

Bear in mind, too, that what the Prime Minister has asked you to do is rely on evidence from Ministry and government officials, including police officers, and the Minister himself.

These are the very people whose actions you - and no-one else - have been tasked with assessing. The Minister, in particular, knows that his political future depends on your findings.

Do you really think that every method under the sun will not be employed, by acknowledged experts in the field, to cast everyone involved in the best of all possible lights?

And don't be deluded by the availability of other witnesses: they have already made it known that they've been asked to be circumspect, to put it kindly.

Accepting this nomination puts you - and no-one else - between a rock and a hard place.

Joseph Muscat does not have the political courage, or power, to do what a real Prime Minister should do.

Cynically, he has wriggled out of it by lumbering you with his problem. It's up to you whether you should play his game.