THE melodrama is about to end. The main characters, Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, played it bad. But the protesters on the ground and the people glued to TV screens enjoyed a lot as the drama contained tragedy, music and dance, as well as well-rehearsed dialogues by the main characters who often acted good clowns.

Some time the Pakistan Awami Tehrik leader roared like a lion and ordered his followers to destroy everything. But when he was about to face reality, he wept like a child and spoke and gestured like a mentally-challenged person.

Dr Qadri continued to compare his protest with great revolutions of the world, Mr Khan only focused on election, but the people’s problems figured nowhere in his agenda. He profusely used first person rather than we.

The PML-N chief remained dormant all the time until things turned ugliest. The army distanced itself from the mess but at the same time its stand that the issue should be resolved politically without the use of force made the ruling party more scared and the Khan-Qadri duo bolder. There is a very thin possibility of military takeover and things would settle when the army chief strictly reprimands both parties to come to a settlement.

If Mr Sharif had acted on Asif Ali Zardari’s advice to resign as PM and assume the office of the president, he would have saved himself from ignominy and the country from mammoth economic loss.

Gulsher Panhwer
Johi

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2014