In the digital anatomy of a revolution, suppression is often the ultimate stimulant. On January 1, 2026, a PhD student named Zorain Nizamani dropped a literary depth charge into Pakistan’s stagnant political waters. Within hours, the state’s reflexes kicked in the article was scrubbed from The Express Tribune. But in the age of the screenshot, deletion is just another form of publication.
The op-ed, titled “It Is Over,” didn’t just go viral it became a digital manifesto for a generation that has stopped listening.
I. The Autopsy of a Disconnect
Nizamani, writing from the academic distance of the University of Arkansas, didn’t use the tired language of street protests. Instead, he delivered a cold, forensic autopsy of the ruling elite’s influence. His thesis was simple: The state has run out of stories that the youth are willing to buy.
“For the older men and women in power, it’s over,” he wrote. “The young generation isn’t buying any of what you’re trying to sell No matter how many talks and seminars you arrange, trying to promote patriotism, it isn’t working.”
For the “Boomer” establishment, patriotism is a lecture. For Nizamani’s Gen Z, patriotism is a byproduct of a functioning sewer system, a stable power grid, and the right to breathe without permission.
II. The Digital Firewall vs The Global Mind
The most cutting part of the manifesto highlights a fundamental technological rift. While the state invests in stronger firewalls, Gen Z is demanding faster internet. While the elite seeks to tax the tools of the future, the youth are using them to bypass the gatekeepers of the past.
Nizamani argues that the state’s attempt to keep the masses “illiterate” has failed in the face of the internet. The youth might be “too scared to speak” because they “prefer breathing,” but their silence is not submission. It is a “quiet exit.” They aren’t storming the barricades; they are simply leaving the country, taking their talent, their taxes, and their futures with them.
III. The “Streisand Effect” in Full Bloom
The military establishment’s alleged decision to pull the article has backfired with spectacular irony. By attempting to silence Nizamani—the son of beloved television icons Fazila Qazi and Qaiser Khan Nizamani—they transformed a US-based academic into a “National Hero.”
- The PTI Reaction: Imran Khan’s party noted that the removal only “confirms the truth” of the article.
- The Human Rights Council: Labeled the takedown a “lamentable” violation of constitutional rights.
- The Social Media Surge: Screenshots of the article have reached millions who never would have read the original print edition.
IV. The Verdict , Headphones On, Narrative Off
The establishment’s counter-narratives—distributed via the ISPR—are landing in a vacuum. As Nizamani poignantly noted, “Generation Z has headphones on and Spotify paid for.” They have tuned out the TV speeches and the state-sponsored seminars.
The tragedy of the “It Is Over” saga is that it reveals a nation bifurcated by time. On one side, a leadership using 20th-century tools of censorship; on the other, a generation living in a 21st-century reality. The article may be gone from the website, but the sentiment is etched into the digital consciousness of a generation. The dance is over; the establishment just hasn’t realized the music has stopped.
