In a TV talk show, to a question why politicians in Pakistan do not learn from history, one of the panelists gave an interesting answer: “Because history does not move in Pakistan.” Interestingly, the programme showed clips of speeches of Mian Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif where they were threatening the PPP government to mend its ways or get ready for a revolution and being hanged in public. At one place Shahbaz is quoted calling Zardari a master thief. From the way Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri are addressing their workers, it is evident that our political leadership is short on civilised ways to negotiate national issues. But from the way the incumbent government has confronted the protests and responded to them show that the PML-N has not moved an inch either from its attitudes of the 1990s in dealing with opposition. Granted Tahirul Qadri is a late entrant to politics and is igniting violence by his fiery speeches that could create a law and order situation, but is using unthinking brute force the best way to nip the evil in the bud? Can the government close its eyes to the reality that Qadri possesses street power and brush him aside by merely saying that he is not worth talking to because his party has no presence in parliament? In other words can Qadri and his affiliates only be dealt with with the language of weapons, force and intimidation? It was this mentality that led to the Model Town incident on June 16 and what happened in Lahore and the Bahria interchange on the Motorway on August 9. The Qadri brigade was prepared this time round to face the Punjab police and following the instructions of their leader, they pounded the police with whatever weapons and force they could muster on Friday and Saturday. Several cars were set on fire, a police station was gutted and a police officer killed. Many injured are recovering in hospitals. On Youm-e-Shuhada (Martyr’s Day) yesterday, the workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were stopped from coming into Lahore. Chaos could be seen in different cities and districts of Punjab. If the PAT and its leader Dr Qadri are responsible for bringing the situation to this pass, the Punjab government is equally to be blamed for behaving more like an autocracy then a democratic government.
The Youm-e-Shuhada on Sunday has been mercifully relatively peaceful. Dr Qadri had planned a march on the day, which he suspended at the last moment, asking his workers to stay where they were and commemorate the day locally. There were speculations that he will lay out his plan of action regarding the revolution he plans to bring about, but he did not and has postponed it for another three days. He will make now embark on his revolution march on August 14, the day when Imran is taking out his independence march. Granted that Qadri and his party had been hurt by the Model Town incident, but what difference did resorting to violence this time round make? Peaceful protest is far more powerful than a violent one. One of the reasons why the lawyers’ movement was successful and achieved the desired results was that it never created a law and order situation; the state did, which fact eventually became a game changer.
One can perhaps see the present political circumstances in Pakistan as part of the evolutionary process that every society goes through before reaching democratic maturity and stability. But the evolutionary process cannot be left on its own to find the right direction and space. Political and social evolution has to be consciously managed and reared in the cultural, political and social context of a given country. That is why we have tons of theories and doctrines emanating from the principles applied to manage situations as the world progresses. So can our leaders afford to sit back and complacently allow the political process to play itself out in a manner reminiscent of our dictatorial past? In that case, no government can survive and will eventually be brought to its knees, since tyranny cannot endure beyond a point. The olive branch the government is extending now to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf could have been done earlier as well, if only the government’s advisors had had the sagacity to see the situation unfolding in the manner it has.
Pakistan’s survival depends on the peaceful resolution of differences and in the continuation of democracy. One hopes that the political leadership both in the government and opposition grasps this reality and will not allow August 14 to become another destabilising showdown in the history of Pakistan. *