Being sentient and having some degree of intelligence does allow one to absorb new information, evolve and change.
I can only speak for myself. I genuinely believed the Fauj was removing itself from poitics and the PTI winning the 2018 elections was another sign of the same, especially after 2 successive PPP and PMLN governments post Musharraf.
Yes, many of us still believed there was rigging in the 2018 elections that reduced the PTI’s overall strength, but we were all so giddy with the thought of FINALLY breaking out of the vicious cycle of musical chairs of Military Coups, Sharifs and Zardaris, that we missed the Fauj’s continued political machinations and manipulation. We were just happy that a political party geuinely focussed on the middle and lower class was finally doing many things we had yearned for — universal healthcare, expanded safety nets for the poor etc etc.
And then, with the PTI’s ouster, harsh, cruel reality hit us in the face. And of course the house of cards kept falling as the Fauj, through its statements and actions, removed any semblance of being ‘neutral’, whilst loudly proclaiming to be just that.
Democracy is weak in Pakistan, run by a corrupt venal landowning and business elite because that is precisely what the Fauj wants, because such an elite can be controlled and manipulated.