As Khan continues his protests aimed at bringing down the government, in the urban areas of Pakistan, people are raising a number of questions about the state of our society. Among these questions is this rather obvious one: why are the urban middle classes perpetually annoyed and angry?

Before the 2013 elections, they were constantly annoyed with PPP and its model of governance, and since the elections, their ire has focused on the PML-N and its apparent inability to address their concerns. And irrespective of what the PTI would have us believe, their true base is the urban middle classes, who are funneling their frustrations with everyone else through the medium of Khan.

So how is this small yet highly vocal segment of society going unheard by the largest political parties in the country?

This question seems simple enough but for some reason, has long been ignored in favour of questions that branch from it; why urban middle classes back dictators are often the subject of discussions, instead of the core question above. In a way, the underlying issue has been ignored in favour of the effects it has on this crucial and vocal element of the society.

An inherently shy society

 

The answer to this question, I believe, is in differentiating between what the real demands are and what the nominal demands are.

In our society, we have a tendency to keep up complaisant appearances, while abiding by their way of doing things. Take, for instance, how we deal with guests who overstay their welcome; no family would ever say straight up that it is getting late and they would like the guests to leave because that is just not the polite thing to do.