Daily Times

The current blockade by Khadim Rizvi and associates has disturbed local residents as well as shamed Pakistan in the eyes of the international community. With every CNN or BBC program showing an angry hirsute man waving a stick beside a burning tire Pakistan turns into the living embodiment of a stereotype it wishes to refute; an intolerant and unstable state full of dangerous Islamic extremists.

Shockingly, this is Tehreek-e-Labbaik’s (TLP’s) third such blockade in seven months. I had the misfortune of being stuck in all three. The first two blockades were in April just as the PML-N tenure was ending. The issue was over implementation of an agreement that ended the Faizabad sit-in some months back.

I was less than 30 KM from Lahore when ‘TLP’ stopped traffic. A thirty-minute journey ended up taking seven hours. The atmosphere was confusing. No police officers were in sight. There were no attempts at guiding traffic. Apparently it was everyman for himself. All along we saw lines of cars and trucks parked by the roadside. Some had given up while some kept trying to find a way out.

We saw Labaik’ scheck points. It was frustrating to see them up-close. They were a ragtag force both young and unimpressive. Apart from bamboo sticks they had no real weapons. Roads were barricaded with a hotchpotch of vehicles, bikes, and debris. They weren’t even numerous. At one Sheikhupura checkpoint, I counted foursenior ‘captains’ with about 20 dazed kids barely in their teens. It seemed like a rural school out on a field trip. This was nothing a dozen police officers and bulldozer couldn’t fix.

Unfortunately ten days later, TLP did the exact same blockade. I was again just about to enter Lahore as it happened. This time they seemed quicker and more confident. The numbers increased, but again, nothing formidable. They had the same sticks.

However they still managed to chock Punjab for the second time. As a result chaos ensued. Cars were stranded without fuel. There was an ambulance that was going berserk. There were people stressed at missing meetings, weddings and even funerals. The most heart wrenching was frightened mothers with small children. Some were out of diapers, some out of food and some out of milk. We all looked at each other with sympathy and sadness, of how the State abandoned us in a time we needed them more than ever.

One friend ended up sleeping in a factory in Sheikhupura. Another drove all the way back to Islamabad and took a flight to Lahore. A third parked his car near the Ravi River, hitchhiked across on a boat and then took a taxi home. Somehow I made it with the help of locals who guided a handful of cars through a tiny town-bazar.

TLP was created before PTI’s tenure. They grew from an unknown fringe political faction to a national nuisance under someone else’s watch (and patronage). However the PTI government’s handling of the current situation was appalling

When TLP’slatest blockade beganI was on the opposite side trying to get out of Lahore. I didn’t make it. The TLP teams seemed more galvanized since our last encounter. They were better organized and larger in number. Perhaps it’s the practice, or the electoral experience but there was a visible progression in their size, attitude, and skill. Nonetheless this was nothing the State couldn’t disband.

TLP was created before PTI’s tenure. They grew from an unknown fringe political faction to a national nuisance under someone else’s watch (and patronage). However the PTI government’s handling of the current situation was appalling.

Firstly they should have anticipated the protests and arrested the leadership before The Supreme Court’s verdict. TLP’s supporters are simply following directions. Without their leaders they wouldn’t have mobilized. Secondly, they should have shut down this illegal protest on the first day. By doing nothing the government empowered them. That gave them confidence and worst of all set a precedent for other aggrieved right-wing organizations with appetites for fame and publicity.  The five-point agreement that ended the current blockade is a vague settlement that is surely to run into problems. It’s more of a ceasefire than a solution. In case TLP’s ‘legal course of action’ to put Asia Bibi on ECL, or their ‘review petition’ does not bear fruit what’s to keep them from mobilizing again. The State and Labaik’s next clash is inevitable.

It is the citizens that were the most affected by this. We were terrorized. Our properties were destroyed. Our livelihoods were disrupted. Our judges, ministers, and Army Chief’s reputations were belittled and lives threatened. Worst of all we felt abandoned by our Motherland. It left us at the mercy of these fanatics. This is unacceptable.  Imran Khan’s speech on the first day was inspiring but it was a bluff. The government must rethink its strategy of non-confrontation and respond to the challenge valiantly. This is no longer about Asia Bibi.

The writer is an agriculturist with degrees in Economics and Mass Communication. He can be reached at skhanzada@ymail.com

Published in Daily Times, November  4^th 2018.