The much-awaited jalsa of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which had been in the works for weeks, and had been postponed at least once, came and went.
While it did manage to draw a sizeable crowd - despite the containers and other barriers placed in the path of those who wanted to participate — the primary thing that it will be remembered for will not be Imran Khan nor the public support for his immediate release from jail. Instead, it will be remembered mostly for the uncouth, uncivilised and very improper remarks of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur against his counterpart from Punjab and also against journalists in general.
Earlier, there were reports that Mr Gandapur had been given permission to lead the jalsa and would be its featured speaker, given his official role as the head of one province.
However, it seemed pretty clear that he did not abide by the assurances that must have been provided to obtain permission to hold the jalsa. He went on to attack Pakistan's most powerful institution, holding no punches in the generally insolent manner of speaking he usually indulges in.
Much of his speech was laced with taunts - both against the military and against the Sharif family —in particular against Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The tone and tenor of what he was saying did not even remotely reflect a mindset that wanted reconciliation and rapprochement with anyone. This may seem puzzling to some, given that one of the primary objectives of the jalsa was to demand the immediate release of former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan.
Having such an aggressive and combative speech is hardly going to achieve that objective — in fact, it ended up diverting attention from that important issue.
The following day — as we all saw — was filled with reports of PTI leaders being detained and Mr Gandapur becoming untraceable for several hours. It was not till the early hours of the next morning that information was tweeted by a spokesperson for the KP government that the chief minister had reached Peshawar at 5am (on the morning of September 10).
The picture eventually became clear: Mr Gandapur had been invited to a meeting in Islamabad, and it was during this meeting that he was not reachable by anyone, as announced by his close aides. However, once the meeting was over, he returned to Peshawar with his security in the chief minister's motorcade.
Khawaja Asif laid bare PTI's position, which is that it will speak in favour of democracy and against the Establishment and the chief justice as long as they are in opposition to the party's founder
It wouldn't be hard to fathom what was discussed at this 'meeting', and one can safely say that the topic of discussion most likely was not the immediate release of Imran Khan.
Also on September 10, on the floor of Parliament, one saw a fiery and aggressive speech by Ali Muhammad Khan, saying that the arrest of PTI MNAs a day earlier from outside the Parliament was a direct attack on democracy - and that those behind such actions should instead go and protect the country's borders.
The MNA from Mardan was, however, put in his place, so to speak, by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who pointed out that the same party crying for democracy had no issues secretly meeting with the Establishment, so much so that they would even go meet them while hiding inside the boot of a car.
In a nutshell - or, one should say, in a matter of a few sentences - he laid bare PTI's position, which is that it will speak in favour of democracy and against the Establishment and the chief justice as long as they are in opposition to the party's founder — which also necessarily means that this strident opposition can quickly change to warm friendship and camaraderie the minute these institutions again start backing Imran Khan.
And this, precisely, is the main takeaway from Gandapur's speech — now being heralded by PTI followers and supporters as a brilliant expose of the current dispensation. The fact is — and they will never see it this way — that ended up taking the public spotlight away from demanding the immediate release of Imran Khan. Even Gandapur's pledge that in 15 days Imran Khan would be "with us" seems highly unattainable now.
Imran Khan's remarks later on September 10, where he defended Gandapur and said that those in the PTI who had apologised for them (Omar Ayub Khan and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan) were "weak cowards" and should not be in the party.
Such support for what was clearly a highly abusive and inappropriate speech does not reflect well on the former prime minister and his party either.