ISLAMABAD: On Tuesday afternoon, as the sun began to set on Constitution Avenue, when Dr Tahirul Qadri took the stage to speak to his followers and Imran Khan’s supporters on Constitution Avenue, the sound system failed him.

Amid repeated requests to his engineers to ensure that everyone could hear the speech, Dr Qadri regretted that his party had not been able to arrange a better PA system.

“We were not as fortunate, we came to Islamabad straight from our confinement in Model Town. The first system we acquired was ripped to shreds by policemen and our backup isn’t quite as good as the ones our neighbours are using,” he said, gesturing towards Imran Khan’s container just across from his.

While PAT’s technical team struggled with the sound, Imran Khan grabbed his mic and, in an unprecedented turn, invited Dr Qadri to address his supporters from the PTI’s stage, saying, “Our sound system can be heard much better.”

This was a watershed moment.

Before this, all the overtures towards cooperation between the two marches had been but verbal and came mostly from Dr Qadri’s side.

But for Mr Khan – who had disowned the Pakistan Awami Tehreek workers that stormed the state broadcaster’s offices just a day earlier – this was a first, a landmark gesture where he reached out to his fellow sit-in leader.

Wasting no time, a team of PAT workers escorted Dr Qadri from his stage to Mr Khan’s in a matter of minutes.

TV cameras trained on the PTI container were rewarded with the money shot seconds later: the two leaders’ first public embrace as Mr Khan welcomed Dr Qadri and handed him the mic.

Dr Qadri then spoke for nearly half an hour, hesitant at first but – no doubt keen to impress his counterpart in his own home, so to speak – later unleashed the firebrand oratory that he is renowned for.

He took many pot shots: first referring to Chaudhry Nisar as “Khan sahib’s close friend”, to which Imran quipped, “Was. Was a close friend”; then referencing Javed Hashmi’s speech on the floor of the National Assembly.

This later reference saw the crowd fall into a hush as all eyes remained on Imran for a reaction.

After all, here was Dr Qadri – standing on the same stage that Mr Hashmi had occupied until a few days ago – trying to cut him down to size. But Imran was unmoved, and Dr Qadri too, changing tact, limited his remarks to refuting the allegations Mr Hashmi had levelled against his own person.

During the speech, at one point, while he was talking about the alleged corruption, mismanagement and wrongdoing perpetrated by the Sharif Brothers, he reached out for Imran’s hand and, clasping it, waved it above his head in a show of unity, saying, “These hands, these hands will deliver the country from the hands of the Sharifs, who have only taken away and never given back to the country.”

Throughout the speech, he kept turning to Imran, as if seeking approval for his words.

Mr Khan also reciprocated and joined him in congratulating the crowd when Dr Qadri announced that the names of both Sharif brothers and sections of the Anti-Terror Act had been added to the Model Town FIR.

Another highlight was Dr Qadri’s hat tip to DJ Butt, the maestro behind the PTI’s coveted sound system.

During his speech, while responding to the interior minister’s allegations against the marchers, Dr Qadri declared: “You have Gullu Butts and Billu Butts, not us.”

At this, Imran muttered, “We have DJ Butt,” to thunderous applause from the crowd.

Sensing this was his moment to shine, Dr Qadri invented his own anagram for the legendary sound man, asking the crowd, “Do you know what DJ Butt means? ‘D’ stands for decent, ‘J’ for just, B for Butt”. The approving crowd, of course, replied with applause and peals of laughter.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2014