Having been a proclaimed pessimist, sometimes boastfully so to, as they say, sex up a conversation, I am not very alarmed by the recent turn of events in this country. But consider the irony of a situation in which I occasionally find myself these days, when I have to hold someone’s hand and cheer them up. Hold on, I feel obliged to whisper, don’t give up so easily.

Giving up is what most people tend to be doing now. There is a palpable sense of despondency in the air. And I find the mood more despairing in the higher echelons of our society. I wish I could quote sentences uttered in restricted sessions by individuals who are known in the media. For that matter, a lot that is being said on record is also scary.

One problem, as I see it, is that there is no clarity about what is happening and where we are headed as a nation. There are whispers about dreadful scenarios that may unfold when the situation gets out of control. This sense of doom is essentially rooted in the economic distress of the middle class. Economists tell us that this level of inflation has never persisted for so long in Pakistan’s history. The federal budget, dictated by the IMF, appears to be, in its heaviness, the last straw.

So, is there a silver lining lurking somewhere in this darkness? I do find people, though not frequently, who point towards something to argue that all is not lost. For instance, the recent rise and rise of the stock exchange. But it is hard to........

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