Lahore: Brutality!... There is no other word for what the police did

Few in this country would agree with Tahirul Qadri’s politics but fewer would support the police brutality against the PAT workers on Tuesday. Early last year Qadri called upon the PPP government to accept his demands or quit. Many thought the PAT chief wanted to sabotage the elections. Despite Qadri’s irresponsible demands, followed by a road march from Lahore to Islamabad, the government maintained restraint. Attempts were made to persuade Qadri to allow the government to hold the elections peacefully. When all other ways failed and Qadri’s protestors entered Islamabad, the government sent a delegation of important cabinet members to hold talks with him in his air conditioned container parked near D Chowk in Islamabad. The move succeeded and the PAT leader called off the protest. The marchers dispersed peacefully without a drop of blood being shed.

The Punjab government however resorted to brutal methods to disperse the PAT protestors all over Punjab. In Lahore the police used force to remove barriers from outside Qadri’s establishment. When the PAT workers resisted, the police used force. In the fighting that subsequently took place at least eight people, including two girls, were reportedly killed. Never since 2008 has one seen such brutality committed against protestors. People had started to hope that with the passage of time politicians had become more tolerant of dissent. The PML-N government has disproved this through theie action.

Every political party has a right to hold peaceful protests. Had the police not resorted to high handedness, the PAT warming up exercise would have continued peacefully till the arrival of Tahirul Qadri. At a time when most of people are focused on the military operation, few would have taken interest in the activity. Some would have even condemned it for striking an altogether dissonant note at a time when all political parties were expressing solidarity with the army.

It is condemnable on the part of the PAT activists also for injuring several policeman. Tahirul Qadri should have seen to it that the leaders of his party were present at the protests to keep the workers under control. It is callous to use workers as gun fodder while Qadri is himself cooling his heels in Canada.

If the idea behind the ruthless suppression of the PAT protest was to demoralise the workers, the killings are likely to do the opposite. When political activists are killed in ruthless police actions, they invariably arouse public sympathy and put a new life in unpopular causes.