EVEN after butchering local ecologies and evicting tens of thousands from their decades-old homes, they insist on calling it Islamabad the beautiful. It really ought to be called Container City. The federal capital — and its twin city, Rawalpindi — once again resembles a loading dock for cargo ships. And as always, we are told that besieging the twin cities is in the greater national interest.

The fact that official definitions of the national interest are completely unrelated to popular sentiment is not a new quandary for the powers that be. But in comparison to almost every other dispensation in Pakistan’s history, this regime is not bothered with gaining even a modicum of consent from the people, having liberally deployed the big stick in the country’s core regions to match what has always been the historical norm in the peripheries.

Barely veiled threats have been issued this time too, ‘violent groups’ warned against trying to enter Islamabad. There have been a series of pre-emptive strikes against anyone and everyone that the government designates a ‘security risk’. From Imran Khan’s elderly sisters to the president of the Islamabad street vendors’ association, the regime is intent on ensuring that it........

© Dawn