Innocence lost.

WITH the uneasy 'ceasefire' in Lahore appearing to hold, we finally have time to catch our breath and make sense of the political developments that have happened so far this week. Matters have taken a turn after the PTI - perhaps for the first time in its history - demonstrated that if push comes to shove, it can also assert itself on the streets.

The party has certainly come a long way from that unforgettable day in 2011, when one of its supporters, in his youthful innocence and naivete, gave a statement to television media beseeching the police not to beat up PTI workers as they had only come out on the streets to start a 'revolution'.

By comparison, the young men and women who fought back against riot police outside Zaman Park this week seemed much more hardened in their resolve.

To be clear, the PTI workers' long stand-off with police personnel is no cause for celebration - indeed, it is quite regretful that a large subsection of our youth seems to have turned so hostile to the state. It is impossible, in so limited a space, to go over the timeline of events that have brought us to a state of near anarchy.

Yet, it wouldn't be wrong to surmise that, for yet another episode in our country's brief history, its youth have started to...

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