Police personnel receiving injury in increasing number in the ongoing clashes is a pointer to the gravity of the situation. The former Prime Minister Imran Khan being behind the bars has not doused the intensity of protests by PTI supporters.

The government have asked policemen not to carry weapons lest the situation spirals into greater violence. It exposes the policemen to greater risks as the government clearly wants to avoid immediate bloodshed.

The PTI leadership maintains that the agitations are peaceful. The injuries of the policemen in the clashes tell a different story. The situation is more than a mere protest if one reads between the lines. It is an indication that Khan still wields enormous influence. It can be traced to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region where Khan's PTI retains power. His supporters are indeed up in arms as the number of injured police personnel indicates.

The PTI activists are demanding the release of their leader which the powers that be in Pakistan are unwilling to concede. The ongoing agitation is a challenge to the authority of the present dispensation. And it boils down to something more. One would have expected the government in power making its best effort to put the economy back on the rails.

But the PTI activists agitation threatens the existence of the Shehbaz Sharief government. A power struggle seems to have broken out even though an elected government exists in Pakistan. The outcome of the struggle is uncertain. But unless one looks away from the situation, the collision between democratic freedom, law enforcement and political dynamics is clearly visible.

It is apparent that there is a deep divide between the government and the protestors. The gap is unlikely to be bridged soon. The protest is both physical and symbolic. For the protestors are out in the streets to seek much more than the release of their leader, they want to show their muscle power.

The confrontation between the PTI activists and police personnel signals to the governmental authority something more. The men in the streets of Islamabad braving police batons are bent on reclaiming political space. The authorities are not unaware of it. Roads is Islamabad have been sealed off.

Cell phone services have been blocked and army deployed. Both indicate the seriousness with which the government seeks to address the situation.

The protests are escalating. And the last thing the Pakistan government seeks is an diplomatic embarrassment during a meet of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar among others is scheduled to attend. . The SCO meet is due on October 16 and 17 in Islamabad.

The Pak authorities are not ruling out protestors trying to disrupt this SCO meet.. Spillover of the agitation from the streets to the tony venue of SCO can deal a double whammy to the host country. If that happens, Pakistan will get a bad name in diplomatic world. The Pak government is determined not to allow any disruption of SCO meet BY PTI activists.

But the saddest part of the situation is the increasing gulf between the people and the state. Even as Pakistan struggle to maintain domestic stability and international standing, the agitation appears to be heading for intensification. October is a tough month of Sharief government from all aspects. (IPA Service)