As chips came down for the final round of the most spectacular fight yet in our political arena, two things became abundantly clear. One, earlier rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding, the incumbents were willing to say or do anything – from consenting to strange bedfellows to rewriting the terms of endearment with their partners and allies – that they believed could help them survive the no-trust motion, and failing that, have a fighting chance in the next race for power and public offices. Two, in answering why the National Assembly members and by extension the voters at large should keep faith with the prime minister and his team, the appeal was clearly to sentiments rather than reason and the argument about intentions, not performance.

From the onset, the prime minister himself led the way and a bandwagon appeared content to echo his thoughts. Accountability was the theme of first choice. The idea may have been to milk a slogan that appeared to have landed the incumbents political power in the first place. The choice may have been ill advised considering there has been no great success either in terms of tracing, recovery and remittance of the ‘looted billions stashed abroad’, nor any politically significant convictions. That there is some realisation of the failure on this front within the party core is indicated by the unceremonious exit of the man in charge of the project.

Belatedly, it appeared, there was an attempt to exploit another issue known to have found great resonance in 2018, the establishment of a South Punjab province. Some of the lawmakers challenged to prove their commitment to the cause by supporting the government were quick, however, to allege opportunism.

Another reason offered was the government’s upright and independent foreign policy. While the jury is still out on whether the PM’s handling of foreign relations has been adequate, in an ideal world no elections should be fought over foreign policy, which should essentially be above political binaries. This concern, too, received a partial acknowledgement from the government in its reluctance to divulge the details about the alleged international plot against it.

The opposition was quick to point out that Islamophobia was not a moot point in domestic politics and should therefore not be presented as a divisive issue. Further, that while the fervour it can generate may be tempting, it can lead to dangerous consequences including radicalisation of the political idiom, mainstreaming of extremist rhetoric, an increase in intolerance and violence.

Lost in the chatter were the Ehsaas programme that has been both refined and expanded; the Sehat Card; and Pakistan’s better than expected performance in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. It seems strange that none of the chief apologists for the government even mentioned the performance of the ministries recently recognised for their excellence on governance indicators.