Populism as a symptom.

PUNJAB has a date, finally, thanks to the Supreme Court while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to use Dawn's fabulous analogy, continues its search for the elusive moon, or consensus between the governor and the ECP. It seems as if Popalzai is the only one brave enough to sight the moon, when the state is in a contrary mood.

But even so, there is little certainty in Punjab of polling day. In hushed whispers and outright declarations based on their 'sources', journalists and politicians continue to assert the election will not be held. And once the provincial elections are delayed, so will be the national one. It's like riding a bike; once you fall off, the next time, it's just that much easier.

But how this will happen remains a closely guarded secret in a country specialising in openly discussed secrets. The only explanation which has come forward is that it will just happen. If the Supreme Court orders are flouted and also the Constitution, so be it. What difference will it make? And flouted they will be because after the initial excitement over the numbers of judges who ruled in favour of an election date and those who didn't, the government and the powers that be went back to the old arguments about the security situation and their concern for caretaker governments at the provincial level and the federal level as mandated by the Constitution. It's as if the law minister has gone all Ghajini on his media talk outside the Supreme Court.

Or perhaps it may just point to the absence of a concrete plan. But then, this is simply a guess on the part of those of us not important enough to be in the know.

Will we continue to wait for 'better times', so that the election results are organically different?

At best, one can say elections have to be delayed because the PTI can't be allowed to win? For there is also this other view that the delay is needed to level the playing field, which would then reduce the scale of Imran Khan's victory. But what exactly does this levelling require? Arresting Khan? Or disqualifying him before holding elections? Or is it to overturn the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif before the voting exercise? Once again, we are left with a snappy headline but no detailed story underneath.

But there is one problem here. In this effort to provide a level playing field and justice for all, there is no time left to address the economy.

The most important issue has been left to one man, who has in his few months in the spot neither impressed nor...

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