Rumours were true, after all, as former president Asif Zardari was able to pull no less a rabbit out of the hat than PML-Q chief Chaudhary Shujaat himself, foil all plans knit together by PTI and Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi, and win the Punjab chief minister’s seat for his ally Hamza Shahbaz; for now. Because far from finally bringing some sanity to the province, which has effectively been in limbo since PTI’s government was uprooted from the centre in early April, it has only opened another can of worms. And this matter is now headed to the Lahore registry of the supreme court where the honouable judges will be forced to do legislators’ work for them all over again. Considering all the complications, and the fact that the whole country is suffering because of this ugly political slugfest, and the economy is now truly on a knife edge, all parties and their followers must act with responsibility and not let this issue spill out onto the streets while the courts decide on it. That’s why chatter that PTI is considering complementing its legal outreach with large protest processions is cause for considerable concern. No doubt the government, which is clearly itching to clamp down on the opposition, will use it as an excuse to use force; which is not going to be good for anybody. It’s worth mentioning that in the old days the halls of provincial and federal assemblies did not see commotion quite like this because there was always a degree of civility between parties; even when there were very sharp differences within the house. And that enabled them to reach enough common ground to keep the business of the state from suffering. Now, unfortunately, the level of toxicity in mainstream political discourse has risen to levels never seen before, which has turned disagreement into outright hatred and started to affect people’s civil affairs as well. For now, though, all eyes are on the top court as it decides if the actions of Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari overstepped the red line it painted just a few days ago or not. On it depends the fate of the most important province of the federation. *