The unseen worker.

THE PTI as we knew it is on its death-bed. While Imran Khan was always and is still the truly big fish in a small pond, the clearly forced departures of Shireen Mazari and Fawad Chaudhry, as well as the resignation of Asad Umar from leadership posts, confirms that this particular party - both literally and figuratively - is over.

There is much conjecture about the apparent lack of spine of the now ex-PTI leadership; some PDM/PPP supporters have almost gleefully emphasised that their leadership has endured far more hardship over the years than what the PTI has faced since the events of May 9 without ever abandoning ship.

All of Pakistan's bourgeois political leadership has certainly played second fiddle to the military establishment for most of our history, and some have withstood more coercion than others, the Bhuttos (PPP) and Bilours (ANP) probably most of all. But there is no victory to be had in the PTI's defanging for any political party, let alone for Pakistan's emaciated democracy.

It is noteworthy that otherwise untouchable members of the military's own extended social network are paying a heavy price for their support of the PTI, epitomised by the tribulations of Lahori elites like Khadija Shah. Only time will tell whether such humiliations substantively erode the historical elite consensus in the hitherto insular and militarised Punjabi heartland.

Most of the repression will be borne by nameless PTI workers.

Indeed, until and unless Imran Khan is made completely powerless, it is still possible that a battered PTI could win a general election, assuming that one takes place in the next few months. The age-old minus-one formula could see what remains of the party leadership score enough brownie poiAnts with the establishment to retain at least a share of the khaki-coloured political pie.

Herein lies the rub. If there is one thing that can be inferred with certainty from the events of the past few weeks it is that the security establishment is still arbiter in Pakistani politics, even though its pomp rings hollower than ever.

In effect, the vast majority of the people, who have nothing to do with the intra-elite struggle, will continue to bear the brunt of our tortured, militarised political existence. Does the PTI's decline move us further towards a politics that, in the medium to long run, breaks the rinse-and-repeat cycle?

Even in the short run, most state repression will ultimately be borne by nameless PTI workers. Indeed, at...