With the passing of the 18th constitutional amendment in April 2010, democratic Pakistan's journey for political stability came within leaping distance of its destination, just as the chasm that needed to be crossed became deeper. The probability of success became greater as did the cost of failure. The process leading up to the passage of the amendment revealed as yet hidden sources of resilience within a polity that is reviled at home by an entrenched state apparatus and dismissed abroad as weak and ineffectual.