Rashed Rahman ON the completion of 21 months in office by prime minister Nawaz Sharif, things have never looked bleaker for the govern ment or the country. On all the major fronts, from the economy, politics, governance, to foreign policy, the government continues to stumble from crisis to crisis. Yet, because of a peculiar concatenation of circumstances, the PM is ap- patently unchallenged seriously in terms of his continuance in office.