Pakistan: Government its own worst enemy

US President John F Kennedy once noted: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.”

Not to say that Pakistan is in the midst of any form of revolution, Tahirul Qadri’s polemics notwithstanding, but in this case the government does face protests, and by trying to violently pre-empt peaceful protest, which is the democratic right of citizens, it ensures that violent protest will follow. Qadri is preparing supporters to observe what he has declared Yaum-e-Shuhada (Martyr’s Day) today to commemorate the victims of the tragedy in Model Town on June 16 when 12 of his supporters were gunned down by the police while demonstrating. The incident spread the perception among people that the government was willing to use force against its political opponents, but instead of dispelling that idea, the government has only reinforced it with oppressive tactics that have resulted in chaotic fighting between police and political workers. Lahore, the PML-N’s stronghold, has been brought to a virtual standstill over the last two days by the government’s attempts to block Qadri’s supporters from entering the city or gathering. The thin pretext given is the government says it received intelligence they were planning to use violence, though so far it has not provided evidence for this claim. Citizens in Lahore have naturally been angered by the government blocking roads and preventing fuel supplies, disrupting daily life. Protests are now a part of life in Pakistan and neutral citizens have learnt to avoid them, but by blocking numerous access roads into Model Town and putting containers around the area where Tahirul Qadri’s residence is located, the government has turned citizens’ anger onto itself instead of Qadri. The constitutionality of restricting citizens’ movements in this manner was also questionable, though the Lahore High Court when hearing a petition on the issue decided that the government was only obliged to ensure citizens had right of way and were not completely restricted.

It appears as though Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N colleagues still think this is the 1990s when democratic governments could often get away with undemocratic behaviour because of the lack of a free press and an independent judiciary. Then many people were used to seeing parties in power using the state’s resources for political purposes, but this is no longer the case in a Pakistan where every small action is immediately seized upon by the press. Then too in the 1990s it was the virtual blood-feud between the PML-N and the PPP that brought down both parties in the end as they connived with the establishment and presidents to destabilise each other on multiple occasions. The belief in Pakistan now was that after eight years in exile the Sharif brothers had learnt political maturity and the ‘reconciliation’ philosophy espoused by Benazir Bhutto and ratified by Nawaz Sharif and Bhutto in the 2006 Charter of Democracy (COD) was part of their political philosophy. The tyrannical crackdown on Tahirul Qadri’s supporters around Punjab in the last three days and the use of police to impound containers and block roads has hence shocked many people and most importantly has provided ammunition for Imran Khan’s claims that the Sharif’s are ‘monarchs’. Yaum-e-Shuhada is a trial run of what could happen on August 14 when Imran Khan descends on Islamabad with his supporters. The government says it will try to prevent him from entering Islamabad and has designated an area outside the city for the protest to take place.

It is also reaching out to Imran for talks, but given that it is at the same time arresting his supporters, it has made it even more unlikely that he will listen. His recent statement that the PML-N will be responsible if the military intervenes shows how far the government has played into his hands since he was the one who began this confrontation. There is still time for the government to change tack and allow Imran Khan his protest, just as it should allow Tahiru Qadri’s, but its stance seems to have hardened instead. August 10 is a dress rehearsal for Independence Day and could destabilise the country further.