Even till a month ago no one would have expected that Asim Munir and his henchmen would escalate the conflict to this level.
Imran Khan was doing politics as is normal in Pakistan. He resigned from the Punjab and KPK assemblies expecting that the constitutional requirement of elections in 90 days would be followed. He's been attending courts knowing that the charges against him are fake. His supporters were insulting their opponents on social media and the other party were insulting PTI back, which is normal.
Then Asim Munir and the generals broke the norms of Pakistani politics by declaring war on the people of Pakistan. They escalated the conflict to an extreme level. They're doing things that people did not expect.
- Repeatedly trying to kill the leader of the biggest political party in Pakistan
- Arresting the leadership of PTI
- Trying to ban Pakistan's biggest political party
- Humiliating and sexually torturing senior PTI senators
- Ignoring orders of the Supreme Court
- Treating the constitution as non-existent
- Refusing to hold elections
- Launching armed assaults on the homes of Imran Khan and PTI leaders and supporters
- Torturing and killing journalists
- Preventing peaceful political rallies
- Shutting down the internet and social media
- Kidnapping social media activists
- Killing PTI supporters on a large scale
- Committing outrages against women
- Brutally arresting female protestors
- Kidnapping women and not presenting them in court
- Kidnapping the wives of men they want to arrest
- Using agent provocateurs to attack and burn govt. property to blame PTI
- Torturing PTI supporters and getting statements from them denouncing PTI
- Activating obscurantist religious fanatics to intimidate Supreme Court judges
- Threatening to burn down the houses of Supreme Court judges
Pakistan has dirty politics, but all these things are beyond what was the norm previously.
Imran Khan and PTI were making decisions based on the old norms. They would not have expected that the whiskey generals would start behaving like mad dogs. They expected that when they disbanded the assemblies that elections would be held in 90 days, that the establishment will follow the constitution, accept order of the courts etc.
The leaders and supporters of PTI would not have expected that they would be arrested and tortured. Young social influencers, both male and female, would never have expected that they would be kidnapped and tortured. Females would not have expected that they would be kidnapped and abused by thugs.
So, Whiskey and his generals and the PDM criminals have set a new standard for Pakistani politics, which is not politics but making war on an enemy. One that leads to nothing short of a bloody ending for one side or the other.
It's hard to see how we can go back to the old normal without the criminals in the army and their civilian partners being brought to justice or fighting a civil war.