Pakistan: Islamabad Protests

On Wednesday, two different protests were disrupted by the Islamabad police. One, orchestrated by clerks and teachers from the public sector protesting against their salary increments in the new budget, was baton-charged by the police, when the protesters allegedly tried to cross through to the red zone. Over 1500 katchi abadi dwellers protesting against the eviction drive in slums in the capital were barred from attending the second protest by the police. The police also surrounded the ground outside the National Press Club, the venue for the start of the protest, citing the protest of public workers as the motive behind their actions.

Protests are central to the democratic process, and apart from the right to vote, are the only legitimate means for the people to express their opposition against the policies of a sitting government. This right needs to be preserved at all costs, in the interests of holding the regime accountable throughout its term.

Law enforcement agencies claim that the protesters on China Chowk violated a pre-arranged agreement when they decided to march towards the red zone. Does this pre-arranged agreement take on visual form? Who was representing the protesters? Even if the answers to both questions gives weight to the state’s side of the story, the use of batons, rubber bullets and tear gas bombs against unarmed teachers and clerks is absolutely barbaric and unjustifiable. Truly, a dark stain on the democratic process. The katchi abadi protest was made irrelevant because around a third of the protesters were not even allowed to get to the venue. Using the other protest as an excuse and then quashing both is reflective of the government’s inability to cater to opposing ideas. Protesting the budget was akin to protesting the very first real measure of the government’s campaign promises, and this reaction reveals the extent of government insecurity and weakness. Democracy is not an elite principle reserved for angered engagement by the upper echelons of government; it is a common principle, it is grassroots, ground-ridden, and belongs to the teachers, the clerks, and all the ordinary Pakistanis trying to live decent, dignified lives in this land. They deserve far more respect.