Among the possibilities being discussed is the PTI winning big (or big enough) to form the government. This would mean that once parliament comes into being, the noisy protesters would be of the N variety.

But alone, can they turn the country upside down? It’s hard to do so single-handedly which is where the PPP comes into play. And let’s be honest, the PPP will probably put up with a flawed democratic project as long as it has Sindh.

So, the next question is, how much fuss can one party kick up? To be fair, noisy parliaments are routine in Pakistan. Noisy parliaments and a hyper opposition can destroy a government’s peace but it rarely leads to so unstable a government that it collapses.

A dharna (or a long march as it used to be called in the ’90s) is no different. For a long march to be fatal, the military needs to weigh in.

In other words, in Pakistan it is not an aggressive opposition or an unfair election which leads to instability and a snap election. If an aggressive opposition can single-handedly push for a snap election, this will be a new departure.

Read Arifa Noor's full op-ed here.