Imran Khan’s call for a civil disobedience movement, which he made a couple of months ago, is finally reaping its fruit. The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) disconnected electricity to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader’s Bani Gala residence due to non-payment of bills. In an attempt to destabilise the incumbent government, Imran Khan urged people not to pay taxes and utility bills as part of his civil disobedience movement. His appeal was considered to be outlandish and absurd as many in the country already do not pay any bills or taxes. As a matter of fact in many parts of Khyber Phakhtunkwa (KP) — where PTI is the ruling party — and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), evasion of electricity bills is not an uncommon phenomenon. It appears that Khan did not properly think through his call and along with similar other pronouncements that he made during his day-to-day speeches at the dharna (sit-in), the call for a disobedience movement too was probably made in panic since he had failed to gather the ‘million people’ he was expecting. He even burnt his electricity bill in front of the public to show his resolution. The government, however, made it clear that the power distribution companies will take the due course action against those who fail to pay their bills. IESCO, as per policy, at first sent a disconnection notice because Khan had not paid his two months electricity bills amounting to Rs 130,000, and finally cut it off. PTI spokesperson Dr Shireen Mazari said that this will not persuade them to reverse their decision and the disobedience movement call still stands. Ironically, some reports are suggesting that all the members of the PTI core committee have been paying their bills except Khan himself. For the government it makes sense that the authorities took action according to the rules but this should not overshadow the fact that the country does not get to see such stern responses too often, as irrespective of the payment or non-payment of dues, many defaulters owing to their influential position are spared for being considered above the law. As a matter of fact the government itself is the biggest defaulter and it is due to such lapses along with the institutions’ incompetence that the circular debt still stands at billions. The government not only needs to be vigilant about curbing power theft, which is all too common, but should be impartial when implementing the rule of law. *