If these last few days have proven anything, it is that our civil institutions are no longer capable of protecting the people they have repeatedly vowed to protect. While the opposition certainly shares much of the blame for inflaming its supporters at a time when Pakistan is already facing numerous other crises, our caretaker government has also responded with an iron hand. This is clear from the language applied by the most senior politicians of the PDM against Khan. In their desperation, they seem to have forgotten that unlawful arrests violate the constitutional commitments that they promised to uphold. From Shireen Mazari to Maleeka Bukhari to Yasmin Rashid, no female PTI members have been exempt from the state’s reign of terror. It is one thing to object to a party’s ideological agenda and another to arrest all its members, particularly women who have enough on their plates, to begin with. In a state where the police have the authority to arrest people for violating public order, anyone challenging the state’s official narrative is immediately thrown into jail. The Maintenance of Public Ordinance is a law that goes back to Ayub Khan’s reign to suppress and stifle dissent. The law has been used by successive governments to obliterate their opposition. What is most worrying is that the police raids that have swept through the ranks of PTI’s leadership these last few days have targeted their families-their sons, daughters and wives who do not have the answers to the questions that the state wants. But a press conference held by Khawaja Asif earlier offers some hope for the near future. Asif took it upon himself to apologize for the raid on Usman Dar’s house, which was a massive overreach of executive authority. Not only is this a gesture of goodwill, but it also proves that even in a climate of intense political polarisation, those in power can look beyond their egos long enough to acknowledge their mistakes. PTI’s women are being released at a piecemeal rate, creating room for the possibility that this crisis will soon blow over. *