The numbers are dwindling, Imran’s buzz is wearing off, and really the party at Serena Chowk has just been going on tediously long now. While Tahir Ul Qadri restricts himself to speeches which magically change meaning in translation, Imran can’t seem to make up his mind about what he wants, or how to get it. Swinging from demanding an immediate resignation, to one in seven days, then three days, until he finally settled on two days, Imran Khan is trying even his followers’ patience. Enough.
His latest call to civil disobedience is desperate, bordering on manic. Having vastly overestimated his hand, perhaps Imran is hoping to claw back some dignity in presenting the status quo as his great victory. Incitement to sedition doesn’t really work in a country where the state is already struggling to display it’s authority. A tiny sliver of the population are taxpayers, and there’s nothing anyone seems to be able to do about it. Will Imran be claiming this as his great miracle in two days? Does he even know what date utility bills arrive? Does he really think two days of people who don’t pay taxes, continuing to not pay taxes is going to bring about any change at all? Enough.
Imran Khan’s terrible hunger for power is a frightening thing to see. It is troubling to see his refusal to accept that no matter how bad a system is, that system can only be improved, not torn down like a pair of old curtains. More than convincing people of Nawaz Sharif being unfit to be Prime Minister, Imran has made a more solid case for why he should never, ever be awarded that mantle. Planting misleading expectations, leading people to violence, suffering from delusions of grandeur, Imran Khan’s behaviour is now simply embarrassing. He is doing the government’s job for them: convincing the millions watching on TV that they were wise to stay home. The PMLN are having a chuckle at the PTI’s expense. And the opposition is shaking their head at the corpse of a long march that Imran Khan is trying to whip life back into. A man should know when he is beaten. Imran has not achieved what he came for, nor will he. Any further adventures in Serena Chowk will further undermine his already pitiful credibility, and are best avoided. The sincerest advice anyone can give the PTI chief is: go home. Enough.