Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that something is happening. Everybody knows we are all in the dark. Everybody knows that the show is over. Everybody knows that the hero was stabbed. Everybody knows that each breath is heavy. Everybody knows that it can't be long. Everybody knows that the system is crumbling. Everybody knows that this can't go on.

This suspended moment in time - this long and seemingly unending pause - that shades the strategic, economic, and political paradigm of Pakistan, is exhausting. On most days, this stretched out ego-political drama, is also depressing. The truth is that, in this moment of ominous uncertainty, each of us - across plush drawing rooms and rugged tea stalls of Pakistan - are asking each other a nauseatingly repetitive question: Mulk ich ki ho raya ay? (What the *beep* is happening in Pakistan?). And there is no real way to answer that question. Primarily because no matter what you say, everybody already knows.

This predicament reminds me of a poem/song by the incomparable Leonard Cohen titled 'Everybody Knows'. It's almost as though Mr. Cohen, writing in 1998, could glimpse the Pakistan of 2023 in his poetic sight. With due apologies to Mr. Cohen, here is how it goes.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed

Everybody knows the war is over

Everybody knows the good guys lost

Everybody knows the fight was fixed

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich

That's how it goes

Everybody knows

Everybody knows that Pakistan is in dire economic straits. Everybody knows who got us here. Everybody remembers the political project of 1985, which created the Sharifs/Zardaris/Altaf Hussain. Everybody knows that the 1985 political project has failed. Everybody knows that it had to die. Everybody knows the junta that looted our country. Everybody knows who set them free.

Everybody knows that the enemy is watching. Everybody knows he's been waiting for this. Everybody knows who destroyed the havens of terror. Everybody knows who's trying to build them again. Everybody knows that our borders are volatile. Everybody knows who's trying to set them ablaze. Everybody knows what they are really after. Everybody knows that we are a nuclear state.

Everybody knows that the people are scared, their stomachs are empty and their bodies are bare. Everybody knows how the palace was built. Everybody gave all they could spare. Everybody knows about the palace of privilege. Everybody knows about the children of...