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High drama in Pakistan

But this time around the shenanigans were both on board an aircraft and on the ground in a bizarre script that hardly addressed any of the issues that the strife-torn country is facing. Dr Tahirul Qadri, a prominent politician known for his half-hearted street agitations, was in the eye of the storm as the flight he was on board from Dubai to Islamabad was diverted to Lahore. As he refused to disembark, it was all media glare and none in the republic knew as to how this undesired crisis will end! The five-hour standoff during which the foreign airliner was almost stranded at an airport where it was not destined to as per itinerary was a tale of confusion and chaos. Political pundits equated the plane diversion to that of October 12, 1999, when former army chief Pervez Musharraf was refused landing in Karachi on its way back from Colombo.

Qadri who had upped the ante, nonetheless, ended midday as a non-starter as he walked down the aircraft on being received by the governor of Punjab — as a sign of compromise with the embattled provincial government. For thousands of his supporters it was disappointment, as they waited for their leader hoping to see an anti-government movement kick-started.

Had the local government not baffled and allowed Qadri to land in the federal capital as scheduled and lead a rally to his hometown, it could have successfully taken stream out of the so-called anti-government campaign. Inclement weather and a disjointed political strategy would have fallen flat on Qadri’s face. But that was not the case as the Punjab government flunked and made a big case out of what could have ended up a footnote story.