A CAGED BIRD
They desperately needed 9th of May. They worked very hard to bring it about. They, very carefully, choreographed the whole soap opera, which continues ad nauseam till today. They, painstakingly, worked on its details. Some of them even dropped broad hints much earlier.
The state has been in an overdrive to go for the final kill, by plunging the knife deep. This kind of media onslaught, and the wave of terror sweeping across Pakistan, has never been seen or heard before.
Three weeks into this relentless media trial, smear campaign along with the usual witchhunt, the desired results could not be achieved.Their adversary stood up from the ruins, and is staring back at them. He has refused to budge or blink. Death, destruction and discord all around him, has failed to dampen his spirits. They are trying to tear down, all he had built, brick by brick, in the last 27 years. But his resilience and recalcitrance is something that they were unprepared for. Resultantly, the desperation and frustration is on abundant display in the power centers.
People of Pakistan have stubbornly refused to leave him. His popularity is soaring beyond their wildest dreams. They have done all they could. They are getting desperate, nervous and edgy. Their plan to finish him off, hitting with a sledgehammer, has not worked. They are losing control and their composure .The more repression they employee, the more forcefully he rebounds.
A very interesting aspect of this epic battle is, that from now on, Imran Khan does not need to do anything. He just needs to keep standing defiantly . He has now become a symbol of resistance. Rest of the task has been taken up by the people of Pakistan themselves. Now, they have made this, their own battle. People across Pakistan and around the world, are responding to the the challenges and conspiracies, in a manner, which is both spontaneous and ingenuous. Pakistanis, spread across the world, have been in the Vanguard of this struggle. They have mounted unbearable pressure, which is telling on everyone now.
A Cardinal mistake committed by the powerful is to write PTIs and thus Imran’s obituary, a little prematurely.
Vultures circling overhead, to get their pound of the flash from Pti ‘s dying corpse , were too clearly visible in the skies. But 4 factors have confounded all their estimates and calculations.
1) Pti has held itself, largely together, despite desertions. It has weathered the fiercest storm. It has emerged, almost unscathed, in its strong hold of KPK.
2) proud Pathans have stood by Imran Khan to the last man . Pathans have bailed Imran Khan out of impossible situations several times in the past as well. They are determined, like hell, to do this all over again. What is the anatomy of this love affair, deserves a separate piece.
3) Imran, Khan‘s’s exemplary and exceptional courage and intransigence has uplifted the spirit of his support base.
4) Imran Khan‘s vote base has survived the tsunami of 9th may . His popularity is historic and phenomenal, and, has not been affected by the recent events. Paradoxically, he seems to be becoming more popular.
These four factors have forced the powerful for a rethink . They have been constrained to go back to the drawing board. Imran Khan has got a chance to recoup and regroup, to their peril.
The powerful PDM plus is now, seemingly condemned to commit more and more unforced errors, as the endgame approaches.
On a cynically optimistic note, there is never a dull moment in Pakistan.
Bye for now!