What happened in Pakistan on Sunday had the optics of a man standing on the roof of a tower who is about to be pushed over the edge by a crowd. But he jumps himself, and then says, “na na, see, I tricked you”. Except, the man who jumped did not cause his own death but murdered the Constitution and plunged the country into a constitutional crisis, leaving it without a government or Parliament.
On the day of the vote of no-confidence against Imran Khan, it had become clear that he faced a crushing defeat – the united opposition parties had 199 votes and the government had barely 70 members in the House. The “surprise” or “trump card” he had been touting for weeks turned out to be his intent to burn the entire house down.