It's not politics; it's depravity.

May 12, 2008 had been the blackest day in the chequered history of Pakistan until May 9, 2023 took the badge away.

Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had fallen out of Musharraf's power equation when he opposed the privatisation of the state-owned steel mill at a throwaway price. He was to visit Karachi on May 12, 2008 as part of a lawyer's movement countrywide tour. The movement had begun in reaction to the forced ouster of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

To bring him and the lawyer's movement a moral defeat, the goons were given an open field to play their dirty game. The police, the rangers and other law enforcement agencies stood by the side as Karachi descended into chaos. Lawyers were burned alive in their chambers. Police used live ammunition on political workers, protesting lawyers and other demonstrators. Fifty people died on that single day in the worst kind of torture.

On May 12, 2008, Karachi was in the hands of mobsters, just like Lahore was given on a platter to them on May 9, 2023 to tear it apart as and how they wished.

So, Pakistan had seen worse days than May 9, 2023; however, what makes it so black is the target of the attacks. Allegedly the PTI workers, having lost their temper on the arrest of their leader Imran Khan, went berserk and threw their tantrums at the military establishment. They ransacked the Corp Commander's house in Lahore. They vandalised the newly famous Jinnah House. They put to arson shopping plazas and other buildings the military-owned in the city's heart. So, on May 9, the state was under attack. Several people died, and hundreds were arrested.

Though Imran Khan had been vacated from prison by the Islamabad High Court and was given bail on most cases for at least a fortnight, the political crisis is far from over.

Since the target of May 9 was the military establishment, one is tempted to ask:

Does the buck of the political turmoil of Pakistan stop at the military establishment?

One may also like to understand: Are we living the make-and-break moment that every nation goes through before becoming great? Has the stone been cast to deconstruct the worn-out and hacky politico-economic system? Also, are the political bickering, polarisation and division bringing us closer to Haqeeqi Azadi i.e. real freedom?

Indeed, the buck does stop at the establishment, but that is one side of the story. What has made the establishment successful in its power-grabbing adventure...