2016 started like any other Pakistani year, marked with an air of uncertainty. Like always, it was a mix of little hope and great despair. And as usual, it moved like that; not suggesting anything markedly different from the previous years to make it politically promising. But it was until it entered its tail end. The country trod the usual path and continued to pursue policies and ways charted out during the previous years; fight against terrorism, a stiff foreign policy posturing, and the ever-strained internal dynamics between PTI and the rest of the political forces on the one hand and military establishment and those same civilian political forces on the other. In its war against terrorism, the military continued its ground operations to strengthen the gains achieved against homegrown terrorists in FATA and KP — bringing it near its close. The war actually started with a military operation in Swat back in 2009 and going through different tribal areas, culminated with Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan which is generally believed to have started in June 2014 by the military without the consent and final approval of the civilian government. As a result, the number of terrorist attacks registered a substantial decrease in the country, but those which succeed were far more lethal compared to previous such attacks. Paramilitary operation in Karachi, with some help of civilian LEAs, when needed, continued with all the militaristic gusto. The year marked the success of LEAs operations and confirmed the breaking up of the back of the MQM’s militant wing. Though the one side was apparently handled wisely, there appeared loopholes regarding the operation’s grand political objectives. Yet the on-round successes led the military leadership to widen its scope. Some believe, it was a part of the original agenda to include cleaning of the political stables. But it were the statements of Asif Ali Zardari (2015) and Altaf Hussain (2016) which infuriated and emboldened the military to openly try establishing a nexus between terrorism and politics (sic) in Karachi – and elsewhere. However, it wasn’t something to be achieved in a single day. And the results are obvious for everyone to see; despite the successes on the ground, the planners seem to be getting dirty and smelly with the Karachi operation going nowhere politically and an apparent resurgence of the political forces there. Political instability marked the year despite the unprecedented announcement by the then army chief at the start of the year to retire on time. This political instability characterised the three-year tenure of Gen (R) Raheel Sharif which had started with differences between the military and civilian sides on two issues; Musharraf and military operation against Taliban in North Waziristan. In both the issues, it was the military that got away with what it wanted, but the ensuing instability resulted in the civilian side surrendering much more than what was initially intended or which seemed feasible. Nawaz Sharif’s decision to handcuff Musharraf necessitated unleashing of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri. But the duo caused greater dent into the civilian facade and made it vulnerable to the extent that it lost control of almost everything that mattered. The resultant unnatural civil-military imbalance was further aggravated by the aura of Raheel Sharif, created through his personal efforts and ISPR’s excessive propaganda tactics. The year’s first half saw the Panama Papers Leaks which created ripples in the country’s already volatile political landscape. Imran Khan seemed to have found a new lease of life, but his efforts didn’t bear much fruit and when it was seen to run out of the wind that something apparently unrelated happened that led to the coming into being of an altogether different kind of political equilibrium at the tail end of the year. In order to set the tone for future when there were barely two months left for the then army chief to retire, the government set into motion a new debate by deliberately leaking a story to Dawn which brought the military establishment on the defensive both domestically and internationally. A high-level civil-military meeting took place on Monday, October 3 in which the civilian side accused the army of creating hurdles in the way of taking action against Punjab-based militants. Imran Khan was in Nathia Gali that day on a pleasure trip. Nobody knew about what had transpired in the high-level meeting that day. But Jahangir Tareen and Shah Mehmood Qureshi were called there, and an important meeting between them and Imran Khan took place there in which it was decided to boycott the upcoming joint session of the parliament which was scheduled for October 5 to discuss Kashmir situation. Everybody was shocked as there was apparently nothing to warrant such a drastic step by the PTI. Just when the whole country was trying to know what had actually happened behind the scene during the ‘past 72 hours’ that the DAWN story made it to the front page, Imran Khan announced a lockdown of Islamabad. And everything started falling into place. The move was made at such a time that there was not sufficient time available to the military to plan and execute something befitting to teach Nawaz Sharif a lesson. It seems that Imran Khan’s announcement to lockdown Islamabad was a knee-jerk reaction, but when its ramifications were thought over, it was abandoned immediately. Imran Khan was left high and dry and the balance tilted in favour of Nawaz Sharif. Developments since the start of October have brought positive changes into the country’s political landscape. First, it has brought political stability into the country. Second, it has strengthened the civilian side vis-a-vis the army in reclaiming its lost political territory and asserting itself in the policy-making process, particularly in the foreign policy domain. The government’s softening up to Afghanistan once again and its constant friendly overtures to India after the change of command in the army, despite the continued belligerent posturing of both these countries, are clear signals that the initiative is being tried by the civilians to be taken back from the military. The civilian leadership is also trying to improve its relations with the West and overcome its diplomatic isolation. Its efforts to reach out to the newly elected US administration are worthy of mentioning — but which have so far failed because of an earlier stupidity that was made by someone within the PM House to make public the one-side transcript of Nawaz-Trump conversation. But whether all the recent gains will translate into a permanent dominance of the civilian side on the political chessboard of the country depends on many a factors including, how the foreign actors respond to the civilian’s initiatives; what foreign policy changes do the civilians actually want to pursue; how do civilians perform within the country; what code of conduct politicians do adopt while opposing each other; what do they do to address the issues that the people perceive to be responsible for all the ills, like corruption, etc; and what the Supreme Court decides about the Panama scandal. 2016 has left us in a better political shape. But will we maintain it for a longer period of time, is a question that will be definitely answered during the year 2017. The writer is an independent columnist and political analyst associated with a Pashto TV news channel. He is also a visiting faculty member at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. He can be reached at sethisaleem1@gmail.com