Is it the beginning of the end?

Since the day of Nawaz Sharif's ultimatum to Prime Minister Gilani, then described by some as a kind of 'breather' to the crumbling federal government, events that have happened in quick succession tend to shift the goalposts and may prove to be game-changer. As to what would be its end, it is difficult to predict - we must keep our fingers crossed.
Of the events that occurred, the first of these was the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab, who by all accounts was the most irritating thorn in the Sharifs' side. Even when his party, PPP, was (and still is) part of the Punjab ruling coalition, its point-man in the province, Salmaan Taseer, never gave up on his relentless teasing of the provincial government. Nawaz Sharif had hardly finished his press conference and was taking the reporters' questions on what prompted him to change the gear and deliver a make-or-break ultimatum to Prime Minister Gilani when the news of the governor's killing came in.
Indeed this was a qualitatively new situation in Punjab after the Sharifs' nemesis was gone. Who would be the new governor; will he be a diehard 'jiyala', a la Salmaan Taseer, or a man of reconciliation - these questions have been thrown up and what comes as the answer would greatly impact the political scene in the country's largest province.
The second development is the PPP leaders' assertion - made even before the FIR of Governor Taseer's murder was registered - that this was a 'political assassination', thereby trying to implicate the political opponents, almost unmindful of the fact that such a hasty claim by the Musharraf government that Benazir Bhutto died of the wound caused by her vehicle's sky-roof hatch has yet to pass the test of judicial scrutiny. Is it the case that in this rapidly evolving situation the PPP leadership has decided to go for snap elections and hang its electoral campaign on the peg of Salmaan Taseer's murder? The third is the PML (N)'s decision to jettison the PPP ministers from the Punjab cabinet in case the Prime Minister fails to meet the deadline by which Prime Minister Gilani is expected to announce his pledge to implement Nawaz Sharif's nine-point agenda.
Though one may desist from making a definitive assertion in this matter, it is almost given that should the PPP lose its share in the Punjab cabinet, it would move a vote of no-confidence against Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif - hoping (less sanguinely today than yesterday, given Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's latest stand) that it would have the support of the Q-League MPAs. Not too unexpectedly, should that happen, the blowback would be a tit-for-tat move against the Gilani government in the National Assembly. However, as to what has motivated Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain now to promise to support a move for a no-confidence vote even if moved by the PML (N), and where the MQM would stand in that situation we have to wait and see.
Certainly, the checkmate presented by the evolving political scenario signals the beginning of a deadly power play in the country with serious consequences to other sectors, including the economy, law and order and war against terrorism. Of course, Nawaz Sharif appears to have taken the high moral ground, closely targeting the Zardari-Gilani government for its perceived failure in curbing rampant corruption and cronyism. But one would be profoundly naïve to believe that in the given circumstances, to give a time-bound ultimatum is realistic strategy. May be, at the time of its delivery it was thought to help Nawaz Sharif's two-pronged policy - to ensure the safe future for democracy and keep the government on the defensive. Now that a contest has emerged on myriad fronts, the PML (N) agenda has lost its relevance. The political drama is likely to be staged in the parliament with its fallout on the streets, with much wider participation. Things can go any way, a smooth passage to election or the overturning of the political applecart.