ISAS Briefs

On 14 July 1789 when the French Prison Bastille was stormed by a mob, the incident was reported to the imperious and na?»ve monarch Louis X V I by a courtier. "What, a revolt?" Louis exclaimed in apparent disbelief. "No, Sire, a revolution" was the quiet response from the courtier, a brutal but correct prediction. When recently crowds supporting the mercur ial Imran Khan and the enigmatic Tahirul Qadri occupied the official television station in Islamabad, in furtherance of their demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, one could be forgiven for drawing parallels with that situation in Fran ce. But in reality, are there any?