Dharna politics is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan. It has been used numerous times by various political parties as well as other entities to gain their motives. Timing is the most important thing for the successes and failures of dharna. Other factors involve pressurising the government and gaining motives.
‘There remains a need to understand the timing of dharnas in Pakistan. At present, Pakistan faces several national, regional and global problems in multiple forms. These include the unstable economy of the state, staunch opposition from major political parties (PML-N and PPP), terrorism, Kashmir issue, Afghanistan matter and international pressure regarding various misconducts.
Any misadventure created by dharna or any other issue could heavily cost the present government. In this regard, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has kept Pakistan in a grey list, which could lead towards the blacklist. Recently, Bilawal Bhutto has announced a Dharna in March against the government; pressurising it via telling the tales of a massive increase in the price of every product in the market. Dharna politics will be tried to gain the sympathies of people and pressurising the government. Moreover, Fazalur Rehman, through his dharna, also tried to pressurise Imran Khan to consider his demands. One of his top demand was re-election because he considered the election of July 2018 as rigged and fake through which Khan had become the prime minister of the country. Moreover, internally, there are many political parties and even groups, which are in favour of dharna politics, because of their resentment against the existing government and its policies.
At this stage, however, the government cannot afford any strike or resentment, which could demolish its image at the national as well as global level.
Dharna politics will again be tried to gain the sympathies of people and pressurising the government
Furthermore, the US, India and other international entities, through FATF or any other means, are pressurising Pakistan in the pretext of securing the fundamental rights of the people of the country; abolishing the human rights violations, protecting the minority rights and acting against money laundering used by various terrorist organisations to deteriorate the peace and progress of the world. In this regard, any trouble generated within the country through dharna politics or other means could portray the negative image of the country worldwide. This would cost its name in the black-list by the FATF. According to the present government, it has been struggling hard to control the list of demands given by FATF to avoid getting blacklisted. In this regard, Khan and Army Chief’s visits to the US carry much importance regarding the internal situation of Pakistan and the regional environment, especially on the issues of terrorism, the Afghan peace process, Kashmir dispute and the CPEC.
Moreover, the statement of the US president, Donald Trump, should be taken seriously by the present government. He claimed the US, with the cooperation of various nations, would protect the human rights violations throughout the world and fight against radical Islamic terrorism.
There are many precedents where the US has been intervening within various regions of the world in the pretext of the protection of human rights and eradication of terrorism. Therefore, Pakistan has to take their reservations seriously.
Besides, India wants to exploit the situation by propagating the Pakistani state as the mother of terrorism at multiple regional and global forums. There can be various motives behind Modi’s propagation against Pakistan.
Modi wants to divert the attention of Pakistan as well as regional and global forums from the atrocities and human rights violations committed in Jammu and Kashmir at the hands of the brutal Indian Army. He also wants to divert the attention of Pakistan as well as the world from the extremist RSS ideology as he can spread it without any hindrance. The present government needs to handle global pressure as well as domestic problems in the form of opposition parties like PML (N) and PPP.
People’s expectations were quite high from the Khan government regarding development. However, because of whatever reasons, it has yet failed to fulfil these expectations. Consequently, his negative image has been building within the society, which can be very destructive for Khan and his government to smoothly run affairs.
Other national entities are also unhappy with the policies of the present government. They also claim the justice of the present government is selective and active against the government.
In this regard, Khan has been trying his best to halt the dharna politics through multiple strategies like explaining the current difficult situation of a country and threat from India regarding the Kashmir issue and its struggle to portray Islamabad as a terrorist state in front of global forums. India’s motives behind the propagation against Pakistan are clear. Delhi is trying to get Islamabad black-listed by FATF. Such concerns make the situation of the country sensitive. Hence, the government needs to behave and act sensibly to control the staggering condition. If the violations are not going to be solved skilfully and efficiently by the government, the nation would bear the consequences greatly. So, it is the responsibility of the government to handle these problems very keenly by understanding the domestic as well as global circumstances to avoid any misadventure, which could be harmful to the government, national interests and even the common people of the country.
The writer is a Research Associate at Strategic Vision Institute (SVI), a think-tank based in Islamabad. He is a PhD Scholar at the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad