Indeed, some critics of the government have hinted darkly that government intelligence services have deliberately staged some of the recent violent incidents around the country in order to justify martial law.

ECONOMIST: Pakistan's chief justice is back??a blow for the president

In a region well known for political turmoil, perhaps it has something to do with martial-arts fiction being the last resort of social justice, where wrongs are righted not through law and order seldom useful in the real world but with the arrival of the martial-arts heroes.

ECONOMIST: The king of kung fu