From Gilgit to Quetta, a resurgent opposition is on the offensive. Assailed on all fronts, the government narrative seems too weak to counter the increasingly bold statements being issued by opposition leaders, especially Nawaz Sharif. The former prime minister has come out swinging against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government as well as the establishment. His increasing frustration with the power that be has put him on a direct collision course with the government. By way of a response, Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed to bring him back to the country to face new cases filed against him for embezzling public funds and to serve his prison terms in the cases where he has already been convicted. The gulf between the narratives of the two sides, never narrow, is fast widening and already looking unbridgeable.

Where does the common man stand in all this? He has watched the tug-of-war between the power elite from the sidelines for so long that this is the only role he is accustomed to. On one hand he realises that the government has barely been around for only two years; on the other, these have been far from two ordinary years. The bottom seems to have dropped out of everything. The essentials are costlier, unemployment is peaking and the government has tied itself to an IMF programme that does not allow it to make it any easier for the poor and the vulnerable. A pandemic has provided the last straw. The biggest problem is the rising cost of living. The dismal progress on the economic front is costing the current government its political support. The popular perception is that the government has been unable to stem the tide of rising prices. It is these grievances that have given the opposition hope.

However, the opposition alliance still has a lot of ground to cover before it can be rightly called a mass movement capable of challenging a firmly installed government. The government, on the other hand, has to find a way put a stop to the opposition’s ambitious agenda. It has to focus on the governance challenges and try and regain its popularity. Whatever the outcome, the next few months are going to be crucial in determining the political future of the country.