Pakistan, July 8 -- In Pakistan, political language rarely belongs to the present alone. Whether shouted in a street protest, tweeted by a party loyalist, or aired on primetime television, the language is steeped in memory, often painful, always politicized.

Political and apolitical groups alike invoke past traumas using what psychoanalyst Vamik D. Volkan describes as "time collapse", the conflation of historical suffering with current events to justify resistance or revenge. This time collapse is not only psychological but also deeply linguistic.

PTI supporters' criticism of the current PML-N-led coalition government reflects more than mere political opposition. They reactivate past grievances to conflate with present injustices. By re...