An Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) clarification that the military has absolutely nothing to do with the sit-ins by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) in Islamabad has come at an opportune moment and should be a clarion call for the parties protesting outside parliament that they will not be able to inveigle military intervention by causing chaos, which arguably was their goal. In a statement to media representatives on Friday, ISPR Director General (DG) Major General Asim Bajwa said that the military was disturbed by speculation that it was the “scriptwriter” behind the PAT and PTI marches and did not “deem it suitable” to repeatedly respond to such speculation. The military had, he said, “always extended support for democracy” and had only accepted a facilitator’s role at the request of the government otherwise it wanted to remain aloof from political matters. This statement should take some of the wind out of Imran Khan’s sails when seen also in the light of PTI president Javed Hashmi’s speech in parliament in which he said that his party leader apparently thought the military was going to intervene on his side in the crisis. The speech led to wild speculation about the military’s involvement but perhaps this is also an inevitable result of Pakistan’s history, in which the military has played an active political role. The political rumour mill in Islamabad will dig up a connection that the media can latch on to, such as the rumour that former DG ISI General (retired) Ahmed Shuja Pasha had met PTI leader Shafqat Mahmood in Lahore before the PTI protest began and Imran Khan en route to Islamabad. This tendency to ascribe factual and imagined roles to the military has appeared to change under COAS General Raheel Sharif’s tenure and it is to be hoped that it will become the norm in Pakistani politics. The speculation also shows how widespread the perception is that the military intervening in politics is a matter of routine, a perception that is negative for the military’s public image. A recent report from international news agencies that the COAS was holding back several of his top commanders from directly intervening to ‘restore order’ had to be refuted by the ISPR, which said that support for the COAS was unconditional. Unconditional support is not what the PAT and PTI have at the moment, however. The end of the protests is hopefully approaching with reports saying that many protestors, particularly from the PAT, want to go home after a month camping in the capital, despite Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri’s insistence that they will not move until the prime minister resigns. After showing extraordinary patience, the government is moving ahead with a phased plan to arrest those people who have broken the law. What else it can do is anyone’s guess. Police say that they arrested seven people identified on tape in connection with ransacking the PTV office near Constitution Avenue and 24 other people for vandalism. Unconfirmed reports are also emerging of a wider crackdown around the country against PAT workers, which led Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri to announce they are calling off the talks with the government, though it appears that behind the scenes talks are continuing. Video and photo evidence was also presented by Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar of protestors camped on Constitution Avenue breaking water pipelines and using illegal temporary electricity connections. This behaviour speaks to the attitude of PTI and PAT leaders during this protest, which has been to denigrate the government while at the same time expecting it to clean up their mess. The logical inconsistency of this position is also evident in their claims that any arrests are unacceptable since the people who ransacked PTV were not their supporters. After the Supreme Court issued an order that Constitution Avenue must be cleared, and with Section 144 in place in Islamabad, Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri cannot in the same breath condemn the government for breaking the law while allowing their own supporters to do so. Whether they recognise the contradiction is not as important as ensuring that life in the capital returns to a semblance of normality as soon as possible. *