Daily Times

This is the season of ‘marches’: the Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI’s) march of azaadi (independence) and Tahirul Qadri’s march of inqilab (tsunami). There may be other marches. Are these marches bringing about the “ides of March” as Shakespeare said? The result is likely to be known in this very month of August. The ‘royalty’ failed to act democratically and now it is trying to contain the agitations by using actual containers! At the time of writing this article, there are 36 steel containers lined up on the road in front of my house in Model Town. There is less than a kilometre between my house and the old estate of the Sharifs. The Model Town area will remain under siege until August 18. These steel containers and some more are meant to block all roads leading to Minhajul Quran. There are several hospitals in this area but the patients do not seem to matter.
Ultimately who will march out is unknown. Neither is it known who may march in. The government, in its ‘royal’ style, made no democratic move to settle issues through negotiations. They opted for bullets, arrests and containers! More democratically oriented parties like the PPP and MQM went hoarse trying to solve the matter with negotiations but to little effect. It is so late that even if the negotiations are offered they may be of no avail. That should have been done before tempers ran high and before blood flowed in the streets. Now, all non-agitating political parties will need to take sides to stay alive. Mostly, these parties are sympathising with the ‘marchers’. The government of Nawaz Sharif may concede something to Imran but it may turn out to be too little, too late. However, the government seems determined to subdue Qadri and his Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) by force. He is the most dangerous because he talks of the ‘people’, the common man, musawat (equality) and all those things that are like poison for royalty. So far, the wholesale killing of workers and arrests are ongoing. Will this turn into a sort of civil war, a rebellion by the people?
A huge vacuum in the power structure is beginning to take shape. All law enforcing agencies are being tasked to control the mobs. Logistics are affected because transporters have been ordered not to take people to Islamabad for the protest. The police is engaged in all kinds of oppression strategies. Business is slowing down because of these measures. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be engaged in supporting the azaadi march. Punjab is involved in obstructing this march and suppressing the inqilab march. Main cities like Karachi have their own law and order problems. Health, business, welfare, education, transport and justice have all come to a halt. The government itself is now a party to the paya (tyre) jam. In this state of governance, the vacuum may become so significant that it will need to be filled.
Who will fill the vacuum? Will it be the revolutionary mob? Will it be a democratic anarchy disciplined by leaders of “change”? Will it be a soft change with the support of the establishment? Or will it be a march in by boots?
All these options are open. Some change seems inevitable. How peaceful it will be depends on the sagacity of the protagonists involved. The government has not shown any sagacity so far, and one wishes it would. They should grow beyond their egos and the self-hypnotic chant of the ‘mandate’. The so-called mandate is being challenged and this must be understood. Suppression by the police and bullets only aggravate the situation and will not improve it. If the PML-N is so confident of its mandate, why be afraid? Let there be electoral reforms, let there be constitutional changes, let there be local body elections and let them return victorious. If the PML-N wins again without the alleged help of returning officers and rigging everyone will be satisfied and the result will give a shut up call to all dissidents. Such courage is needed to avert crises. Such courage comes only from great leadership.
Unfortunately, the present leadership in the government has lost all opportunities. They should have accepted Imran Khan’s demand of an audit in four constituencies. Now, under pressure, they are offering even 10 constituencies but it is too late. Imran demanded electoral reforms. This demand should have been accepted without losing a minute. Now the PML-N is setting up committees under pressure. Local body elections should have been held a long time ago but the greed of holding local body funds prevented it and caused a serious violation of the constitution. This delay has alienated the masses that have no democratic decision making available at their door. They should have never taken an oppressive attitude against Dr Tahirul Qadri. They should have realised that if senior Mian sahib had helped a very young Qadri, then it would not have given license to the younger Mian sahibs to expect illegal action by Qadri. Dr Qadri by his scholarship and effort holds a position of respect, and his following can be found all over the world. Diverting his plane, shooting and killing his supporters, blockading and not even letting him register an FIR is exactly like the attitude of a landlord with the oppressed. People in general sympathise with the underdog and the PML-N has lost the sympathies of the masses.
Here is a common sense way out. The present government should agree to resign and set up an interim government with the consent and agreement of the protestors. The PML-N, as a political party, may negotiate its representation in it. The interim government should be given the task to attend to the demands forthwith and make necessary changes in the electoral system, constitution and so on. All irritants, including the harassment of Pervez Musharraf, should be stopped.
I hope this voice is heard by our ‘wise’ men, the containment by containers is abandoned and the country is put back on to the road to progress.

The writer is the former CEO Pakistan National Council of the Arts; chairman Fruit Processing Industries; chairman UNESCO Theatre Institute Pakistan and COO ICTV, USA. He is the author of Melluhas of the Indus Valley 8000 BC to 500 BC. He can be reached at naeemtahir37@gmail.com