ISLAMABAD: Analysts, politicians and civil society members on Friday supported the constitutional right to freedom of peaceful assembly for all segments of the society without any discrimination but criticised 2014 ‘Dharna’ for violating some basic rights of the general public. They expressed their opinion at a consultation organised by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on “2014 Dharna and The Right to Peaceful Protest.” The participants had an in-depth discussion on the developments of last year’s Dharna and the impact it had on the democratic process. There were some who gave credit to Dharna which they believed has led to political mobilization in the country whereas civil society representatives and politicians at large remained critical of the protest and said that it was nothing more than a conspiracy against democracy. “It was designed to destabilize and demonize the democratic system. It was not a peaceful assembly and must be called a puppet show rather than a Dharna,” said Bushra Gohar from ANP. Qamar Zaman Qaira said that right to peaceful assembly is a basic right but it should not be exercised at the cost of violating other basic rights. He said that no doubt Imran Khan raised the issue to probe rigging at all democratic forums and then decided to go for Dharna. “The sit-in benefitted in a way that it was a strong demonstration of the power enjoyed by general public,” he said. Qaira said democracy is a continuous process and political workers have given many sacrifices to keep the process going. “Yes mistakes were committed by political parties but what institution is free of mistakes,” he said while quoting some examples of former Chief Justice Iftkhar Mahmood Chaudhry and media anchors. “It will be better if every institution starts addressing its internal issues rather than blaming the other institutions.” Senator Hasil Bizenjo termed Dharna a conspiracy to finish democracy by using the democratic values. He also criticized media for showing biasness at the time when politicians decided to support the present government. Activist Zafarullah Khan raised the issue of discrimination by state in granting the right to peaceful assembly. “When Mama Qadeer was marching towards Islamabad, he was not allowed to sit before the National Press Club for even few hours but on the other hand, one political party was allowed to stay in the most sensitive place of the capital for months,” he said. Civil society representative Fatima Atif highlighted lack action by the government to address the grievances of protestors. “People have lost faith in peaceful assembly as it fails to attract any government response.” She gave example of peaceful protest by Hazaras in Quetta. “We are as unsafe in our localities as we were before that protest,” she said. Member HRCP Kiran Fatima pointed out that the government has no policy or standard operating procedures (SOPs) to manage crowd. “It was so evident at Dharna when women, children and elderly faced extreme police reaction which should be directed only towards those who were there to create problem,” she said. Secretary General HRCP I A Rehman said that Dharna was an extraordinary development and raised many questions with regard to peaceful assembly, political participation, civil-military relationship and discrimination in exercising the right of peaceful assembly. “For me the biggest concern was the closure of schools for months and the way those schools were turned into a police barricades. Who is responsible for that?” he said. At the end, a reception was held in the honor of M Shujaullah who has been one of the longest serving volunteer of HRCP.
