IS this finally the moment then? Are we now going to watch what we had been promised right since Mian Nawaz Sharif`s third term as prime minister came to an abrupt end last year? Is the Supreme Court order that disqualifies Mian Sahib from holding the of fice of party chief finally going to trigger the unravelling of the PML-N? ThechorussurroundingtheSharifperseverance would have us believe, one more time, that his end is near. The net around him has narrowed to a point where there is no other way for those clinging to him but to give up and disperse away and out of the danger area; the call has been heard again. As loud as before. Perhaps louder.

There are reports from Lahore reinforcing the impression that not only Mian Nawaz Sharif but the whole Sharif familyis sinking. The bureaucrat who is going to lead to other bureaucrats to spill the beans on PML-N rule in Punjab is claimed to have been found.

This to many marks the final, decisive round in which the PML-N is going to be wiped away by the force of circumstances. The timing before the Senate election is just perfect, an answer to all those who had been celebrating the strengthening of Pakistani democracy. There are now scenarios about how a Senate election which supposedly could only further empower a certain party can turn on its head with a few drastic last-minute accidents.

The latest court decision has added great meaning to the politicians and sections of the media speaking out for the permanent banishment of the Sharif brand name. On the other hand, there`s little new the PML-N can do in return. It can only keep its defiant posture. Its counterattack, or counternarrative as it is fashionably called, has already reached boiling point. It can hardly get more extreme than this.

There is a lot of difference between the PML-N at the time of the ouster of Mian Sahib from the Prime Minister`s Office and the PML-N now. Then it was the establishment`s party. It was Gen Zia`s baby that had been invented to fight the PPP. It had a history of caving in easily to demands from the establishment,including those which, unavoidably, asked for the resignation of prime minister NawazSharif after he had failed to live up to his mentors` expectations.

This now is another party, if not yet altogether another country. This new PML-N boasts a history of standing up to those wanting to pack up its bags for its hurried departure. It may retain some of the old unwanted traits. Arrogance. Opportunism which allows it to speak the truth about the usurping elements only when its own interests are hurt.

A habit of having impromptu, in-the-face celebrations. It is still guilty of holding displays like theone where Mian Sahib is seen making fun of those who advised him against travelling via GT Road after his dismissal from power. That was a turning point, he believes, and he believes those who did not favour the route must be humiliated post-haste.

The PML-N is inherently a non-democratic party where the whims of its leaders are law. It is an outfit where the mantle of power at all tiers is still passed within the family. Yet there has been a fundamentalchangeinthe partyoverthelasthalfyearorso.

It has succeeded where others before it had terribly failed. It has remained intact and in the contest despite the most dire pronouncements about its eminent demise.

It is a remarkable story. The PML-N has thus far defied history and Pakistani common sense to stay alive under extremely trying circumstances. It has mocked its political opponents and its sworn detractors in the media. The party has not just survived a vicious situation created by a host of hostile factors. It has actually been credited with growingin strength in adversity.

This is something new for Pakistan and cannot be easily explained. There are various standard theories to understand this unique coming of age of this political party in the country. The more easily accepted ones are explanations that borrow from the old logic that placed the Sharif s in a privileged position.

The saying goes that, as Punjabis and old establishment favourites, Mian Nawaz Sharif & co enjoy a reputation that cannot be easily undone not even by an establishment which has had a change of heart of late. So entrenched are the old attitudes, the explanation continues, that they are dif ficult to be summarily removed from within the system.

This may not be a fair evaluation of the state of af f airs right now but it surely is consistent with the considered view of how politics, and the politics of the biggest province, functions here. What it does do without doubt is that, apart from providing a measure of the strength of the PML-N at the moment, it gives a f air evaluation of just how strong and weak its chief rivals are. Behind the claim of popularity that is yet to stand the test of a general election, it unveils just how appropriate or not is the PTI`s challenge.

In recent decades, no party that had demonstrated sizeable street power had the same opportunities to penetrate the opponents` defences as the PTI has had against the PML-N. Imran Khan started with allegations about rigging in the 2013 election, and was gif ted opportunities in the shape of Panama and consequently this decision that bars Mian Sahib from acting as the PML-N president.

There`s a feeling among the public that Imran was unable to fully exploit these chances to target and topple the PML-N and the Sharif leaders.

This failure of the PTI chief, despite a string of coincidences that hugely favoured him, could be as much responsible for keeping the PML-N up and about and intact as the Sharif formula for defiance.

The people are looking for an alternative that is reliable and that can last for some time. They are not convinced that Imran Khan is that alternative. • The writer is Dawn`s resident editor in Lahore.