Daily Times

Once people are deprived of any real fun and games, then they must find some way to have fun, public demonstrations of religious piety not being enough. Politics often becomes the only available relief from the daily drudgery of life, especially for the young and the ‘un’ or underemployed. So a long march, where transportation and food is supplied and perhaps even a daily allowance available, becomes the equivalent of a mela (country fair) especially if entertainment is also thrown in for good measure.
Wherever I meet a group of Pakistanis (US Pakistanis)during my stay in the “land of the free”, the one question I am asked most frequently is what is with the azaadi (freedom) march being planned by Imran Khan and his party for the Independence Day of Pakistan? The Pakistani media is full of commentary about this so I will not waste my readers’ time by presenting another analysis of Imran Khan’s intentions except for one simple assessment. In my opinion, even Khan does not know what he wants from this march. That said, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) seems to be very worried about this march situation. Perhaps this is because they are as lost as Khan is about what exactly the march is all about!
To muddy the waters we have the allama from Canada breathing down the neck of the PML-N, especially the talented brother. In the ultimate reality of things as they play out in Punjab, the Model Town tragedy is still an open chapter and could do more in time to destabilise the PML-N government than any of the freedom marches being contemplated by Imran Khan. But the two together and a possible march by Qadri’s supporters into Islamabad could be a double whammy that would indeed create a rather nasty situation. If things start spinning out of the control of the PML-N government in Lahore as well as in Islamabad, one thing is for sure: the army will not intervene to save the PML-N and the Sharifs.
Personally, I strongly believe that neither Khan northe allama have the potential to undermine the present PML-N government but together they could create a situation that would expose the reality of how the two Sharifs have lost control of the law and order situation in the country. Here it is important to realise that, by blaming underlings in the Punjab police for the Model Town situation, the Sharifs have also lost the loyalty of the Punjab police for the foreseeable future. As I have said above, the army has no interest in coming to the defence of the Sharifs. Also, sadly for the Sharifs, ordinary people in Punjab who are seeing increasing prices for everything, including the ‘load shedded’ electricity, are not going to come out onto the streets to support them.
So what can the Sharifs do to mitigate the situation? The most obvious solution is of course that they can extend article 245 of the constitution over the entire country, hand things over to the army and withdraw to their palaces in London, and elsewhere, for a period of time in the hope that after the given time to the army to run the country, the army will be nice enough to invite them back to run the country again. However, the Sharifs are too paranoid to do that and in such a situation their paranoia would be entirely justified.
What then are other options available to the Sharifs at this point? The sanest alternative is to let both Khan and the allama have their marches and even facilitate them. Let them both come to Islamabad, provide them with porta-potties and all the food and nourishment they might need. At the same time, do what Pakistanis love most: declare a weeklong national holiday. Since the National Assembly as well as the federal bureaucracy have rarely been accused of doing anything useful, sending all their members home for a week will perhaps only improve the available level of governance. And then pay the best artists in the country to participate in the dharna (sit in), all at the Sharifs’ expense. But then the Sharifs did not become so very, very rich by paying for anything out of their own pockets. Perhaps it is time for them to use some of their wealth for something other than the lafafa (cash stuffed envelopes) largesse they are so well known for, an innovation in Pakistan that their family essentially invented.
Here, let us for a moment pause and ask ourselves the most important question: what if both Imran Khan and TahirulQadri manage to create an environment where the presently elected dispensation is sent packing by the army?Will then either of them benefit? Of course not. What we will most likely end up with is another general with a moustache running the country for another decade. If the general does take over, it will of course be under a democratic dispensation, the Prime Minister (PM) asking the president to ask the army to do the needful. Once that is done, the presently subservient president will become the arbiter of what happens next.
Perhaps in a bizarre way a supposedly subservient Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) and an equally subservient president will then replace the PM as the centre of power. What happens next is anybody’s guess. But I am looking too far into the future. The best scenario is that the PML-N government at the centre and in Punjab do not get frazzled and let Imran Khan and TahirulQadri run around. Sometimes it is better to just let opponents of a government vent their frustrations without responding in a way that allows the army to intervene. The history of Pakistan clearly suggests that undermining an elected government never brings another democratic government in its place.

The writer has practiced and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com