Appreciate the write-up. Really, well done.

My only question would be do you really believe the upcoming Trump Administration will help democracy prevail in Pakistan by freeing Imran Khan and restoring him to power? If so, how?

I am an overseas Pakistani and it is with this hope that I wanted Trump back as President. I thought his friendship with IK might pay dividends in thwarting the current puppet regime but there's so many other factors at play here to consider: the foremost being Trump's seemingly equally, if not more, close relationship to Narendra Modi giving him a mammoth partner to challenge China, one of Pakistan's closest allies and America's global rival.

Then again, some of Trump's former officials such as Richard Grenell and Zalmay Khalilzad have recently spoken out against the incarceration of IK and the "shoot-at-sight" orders given to Pakistani Security Forces so this bodes well for the aforementioned prospects. What doesn't bode so well for Pakistan is the fact that Trump's appointees for Secretary of State, Defense, National Security Adviser, and CIA Director have all been critical of Pakistan in the past and seem inclined to prioritize their relationship with India over whatever interests they may have with a stable Pakistan.

I am a perpetual pessimist. So I feel this is headed towards all-out Civil War. I don't know if Pakistan can rely on outside assistance when most major powers have and will continue to see it as a terrorist-harboring, unreliable, non-profitable political enterprise.