Daily Times

“Ultimately every trick succeeds or fails with an audience because of its plot.” Jim Steinmeyer. The trick then is to first get the plot sorted out. The trick then is not to try to trick people when the plot does not have feet to stand upon. The problem is that those who make the plot are often not those who execute it. The problem is that those who execute it are also tricked by the plot maker. Thus starts the vicious circle of trick upon trick starting with a bang and crashing with a blast. Beware of the ideas of March 2022. Yes, that was part of the plot. Many speculated last year that what happened in April 2022 was planned months ago. Probably. Many think that the story gave away itself with the series of events that followed. Most think that the plot has dragged on for almost a year.

The plot is the storyline of a theme. To build this theme, a series of events must take place. The sequence of the events leading towards the main action is the details of the plot. In this context, the Vote of No Confidence, the turncoats’ auction, the Supreme court, the army, and the coalition of the opposition all did their mini-episodes and finally, on April 9, 2022, the PTI government departed and enter PDM. So far, so good. Then, some out-of-the-plot things happened. People poured out on the streets. PTI took on the “untouchables”. The government unleashed police power on protestors. PTI captured the media’s attention. Media was banned. Anchors were hounded. A top anchor was killed. Then, the out of the plot happened. Arshad Sharif was shot dead, killed, and brutally murdered in Kenya. Things in this plot started going beyond all control. 3 things indicate that we may be approaching the finale of this plot:

Enter the heiress- Maryam Nawaz returns. Her return meant that she had some plot-thickening meetings with the handlers. She has been very clear in her speeches. She wants Imran Khan to be disqualified, arrested and removed from the political scene. She wants Nawaz Sharif to be re-qualified, exonerated from his cases and then restored as the PM. Meantime, regardless of the reaction from the party, the elder Sharif bestowed his daughter with all designations of being SVP and Chief Organizer of PMN. Reactions came and were ignored. Result-a party splitting within. Her return was far from grand. Her speeches were venomous and meaningless. Her vitriolic attacks, with name, with faces of serving judges, has confirmed her new narrative. The deal was to eliminate Bajwa as the culprit and say whatever you want. Nobody will dare do a contempt on you. Nobody did. But, the narrative blew out as the tiktokers and YouTubers steamrolled her by comparing her past speeches to the present. Along with all this, her royal troupe in every city is costing the taxpayer millions despite the fact that she holds no public office at all. This has broken the back of the plot titled ” Return of the Jedi”.

The plot makers did not realise that every plot is going to crumble if it is based on wishful, vendetta-full, and vain-full pillars.

Hit the wrong targets-Meanwhile, the game of “no elections” was on full throttle. Despite the Lahore High Court giving orders to the election commission to announce the election date within 90 days in consultation with the Governor, nothing happened. The Supreme Court finally took suo moto and held an intense 3-day debate in which nearly all parties put their point of view across. They formulated a larger 9-judge bench. The start of the proceedings was not totally out of the plot. Some judges wanted to discuss the suo moto eligibility. Some wanted to say why were the assemblies dissolved in the first place. Some questioned the inclusion of a colleague judge whose audio was leaked. The next day 4 judges withdrew themselves from the bench. Two of them due to their technical objection to the suo moto and two due to their pictures being the centre of Maryam Nawaz’s vitriolic attack. Maryam and PDM smiled smugly thinking they have the majority of the judges on their side. However, the result was 3-2 in favour of the elections at all costs. This has sent shivers down the PDM spine. The law minister made a statement that actually if you include the two judges who refused to sit with the two dissenting ones the decision is 4-3 in favour of no elections. That has made him and PDM look lame. Despite the plot failing they are bent on creating circumstances that will make the elections impossible. That plot is still a work in process.

Their pressure Vs Public pressure- The best part is that another plot is emerging. That plot is organic and thus very fascinating. The public is in excruciating economic pain. Inflation has hit 41%. Dollar has crossed Rs 300 in the open market. Electricity and gas prices hitting the roof and further increasing. The PDM government is in economic absentia. The plot was to do these punishing steps but leak PTI videos to carry the media chat away. And it did. Doctor Yasmin Raashid’s video with CCPO was leaked and some others too. It did create a buzz. But to expect people not to feel the every moment pain of paying so much for so little and then having nothing to feed the family is killing. People are horrified at how all talk of PDM revolves around Imran Khan rather than the common man. On the other hand, contradictions are aplenty. Imran Khan is asked for a personal appearance by one of the many courts in which his 75 FIRs are being contested. His plea is that his leg is still under scrutiny due to the gunshots during the assassination attempt on him. His plea is to take his presence on the video link. It was refused and the plot was to force him into the open and get him arrested at some point. The public is more savvy. They brought out memes that the person who shot Imran Khan, and has confessed, is given the live video link facility in court appearances as his life is in danger. This irony that the one who is shot and has another assassination attempt ready for him is being thrown in the open while the one who is a murderer is being given all the relief has exposed the farce. This has seriously smashed all pretences of justice. Interestingly, though very dangerous, due to this public awareness, when Imran Khan made a court appearance in Lahore and Islamabad record crowds flooded the courts. Those visuals have made any plans of the 13 parties irrelevant.

The plot makers did not, and have still not, realise that every plot is going to crumble if it is based on wishful, vendetta-full, and vain full pillars. These pillars are very weak and prone to crumble. So much so, that with each failure, the plot creators themselves have now run out of steam. When a plot becomes predictable, it loses 80 per cent of its battle. To get General Amjad Pervez arrested was stupidity multiplied. The amount of bad will it generates for them is going to hound them. Life itself is a plot. The plot maker is the divine power and no amount of human power can reach it. Plots made by humans with the wrong intent, no matter with all the power in the world, will have the wrong ending. But the question is that will these plot makers be taken to task? The answer to this question will determine what the next plot will be.

The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail,com. She tweets at @AndleebAbbas