Dharna politics in Pakistan is not a new phenomenon it has happened numerous times by various political parties as well as other entities to gain their motives. Timing is the most important thing for the success and failure of dharna along with pressurizing government and gaining the motives. There is a need to understand the timings of dharnas in Pakistan, currently, Pakistan faces lots of national, regional and global problems in multiple forms like unstable economy of state, staunch opposition from both the major political parties PML (N) and PPP, terrorism, Kashmir issue, Afghanistan matter and international pressure regarding various misconducts have been happening throughout the country since very long period of time.
Any misadventure created by dharna or any other issue could cost the present government a heavy price in this current situation of the country. In this regard, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has kept Pakistan in a grey list which could lead it towards the blacklist expected will be announced soon. Recently Bilawal Bhutto has announced Dharna in March against the government through pressurizing it via telling the tails of the massive increase in the price of every product in the market. It will be tried through dharna politics to get the sympathies of people along with pressurizing government for multiple purposes.
Moreover, Fazul Rehman through dharna also tried to pressurize the Imran Khan to take the reservations and demands serious raised by him one of his top demand was re-election because he considered the election of July 2018 rigged and fake through which Imran Khan has become 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 resentments against the existing government and its policies. The current situation of Pakistan is not good because of various problems, at this stage, the government cannot afford any kind of strike or resentment which can demolish its image at national as well as global level.
Furthermore, United States, India and other international entities through FATF or any other means are pressurizing Pakistan in the pretext of securing the fundamental rights of the people of the country, abolishing the human rights violations and protecting the minority rights and money laundering which is used by various terrorist organisations for deteriorating the peace and progress of world along with a long list of other issues. In this regard, any kind of trouble generated within the country through dharna politics or any other means along with getting the international attention can portray the negative image of the country which costs its name in the blacklist by FATF. Since according to the present government, it has been struggling hard to control the list of demands given by FATF for avoiding its name in the blacklist.
In this regard, visit of Imran Khan and Army Chief to America carries much importance regarding the internal situation of Pakistan along with regional environment especially issues of terrorism, the Afghan peace process, Kashmir dispute and Chinese involvement through CPEC. Moreover, the statement of American president Donald Trump should be taken seriously by the present government that America with the cooperation of various nations will protect the human rights violations throughout the world and fight against radical Islamic terrorism. There are many precedents where America has been intervening within various regions of the world of the pretext of protection of human rights and eradication of terrorism since long, therefore, Pakistan has to take the reservations raised by them seriously.
In addition, India wants to exploit the situation through propagating Pakistani state as the mother of terrorism at multiple regional and global forums. There can be various motives behind the propagation of Modi against Pakistan in which Kashmir issue and RSS ideology are the major ones. Modi wants to divert the attention of Pakistan as well as regional and global forums from the atrocities and human rights violations at the hands of brutal Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir and he also wants to divert the attention of Pakistan as well as world from the extremist RSS ideology as he can spread it without any hindrance. The present government has to handle global pressure including domestic problems in the form of opposition parties like PLM (N) and PPP.
Likewise, expectations of the people of country were high from Imran Khan Government regarding development and progress but because of whatever reasons it could not fulfil the expectations of common masses yet consequently, the negative image of Imran Khan has been building within the society which can be very destructive for Imran Khan and his government to run affairs smoothly. There are also other national entities which are not happy with the policies of present government they also call the justice of present government is selective in this regard they are also active against the government.
In this regard, Imran 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. The motives of India behind the propagation against Pakistan are clear, Delhi tries Islamabad as a blacklisted state by FATF. Such type of concerns makes the situation of country sensitive hence the government has to behave and act sensibly to control the whole staggering condition. If issues and violations are not going to solve skillfully and efficiently by the government then the government and the nation could bear the consequences and repercussions of troubles generated through any mean. So, it is the responsibility of the government to handle all these problems very keenly through understanding the basics and current domestic as well as global circumstances to avoid any misadventure which can be harmful to government, national interest and common people of the country.
The writer is a Research Associate at Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) Think Tank based in Islamabad, PhD Scholar at Department of Defence and Strategic Studies Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad. He can be reached at [email protected]