PAT Chairman Prof Tahirul Qadri has just returned to the base. Soon after his arrival, he presided over a meeting of the likeminded in Lahore. The likeminded comprise those who want to see this government out of power and quickly.
The meeting resolved that protests would be held in the major cities of the province and later extend to other parts of the country. Representatives of few political parties attended the meeting. In one case, however, chief of his one-man party – Sheikh Rashid – turned up himself. Prof Qadri promptly appointed Sheikh as chief coordinator and organiser of the protests.
Both Imran and the Professor had staged their 126-day infamous dharna at D-chowk in Islamabad about two years ago. The standoff, however, had failed to raise umpire’s legendary finger – signalling change, which Khan hoped would have pronounced the PML-N government bowled out and ushered him in to form a government.
Some say there weren’t any signals at all and Khan was a victim of his hallucinations; others say he hadn’t been able to pull enough crowds for the light to turn green. But the Professor, known for his uncanny sense of assessing a situation, had realised there was no hope of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and asked his followers to return home to celebrate Eid. Khan and his lacklustre crowd had stayed on for some days before the APS tragedy occurred and dharna wound up.
At present different political parties have different agendas. Imran Khan wants to go the whole hog against corruption while the PPP is not so keen on it even though some of its proponents, especially Aitzaz Ahsan, insist upon taking on the prime minister on the Panama leaks scandal. Wonder how the PPP and its Young Turk Bilawal Bhutto could take a moral stand against corruption. The proven stash of $60 million, squirreled through SGS and Cotecna companies, in the Swiss banks has yet to be repatriated to where it belongs.
Nonetheless, the people are disinterested in the Professor’s lofty ideal of pulling the existing political system down and replacing it with a new one. Or, for that matter, Imran Khan repeating his old rhetoric of corruption and electoral manipulation by the government. Anything that becomes a routine loses its impact. And so have the dharnas and protests.
More so, the people now think that the Professor, a Canadian citizen, doesn’t have enough speaking opportunities in Canada, nor does he have so many followers there with so much time to listen to him. Hence he visits the base to hone his skill of public-speaking.
Both Prof Qadri and Imran Khan are good public speakers. Though Khan sometimes smiles mockingly during his speech when targeting the PM, the Professor doesn’t.
As the protest season is about to begin, a serious question arises. Where will the protests be held? Should they be allowed at places where they create hardships for people who have nothing to do with politics? Should the protests be allowed to interfere in the daily routine of taxpayers who earn their honest living by hard work? When protesters march on the Mall Road in Lahore or similar busy roads elsewhere, not only do commuters face problems, business and trade suffer as well.
The government would do well to earmark special venues for protesters to let their steam out. Such venues in big cities may be provided with facilities to perform the daily chores. Imran Khan and Prof Qadri had air-conditioned containers to refresh themselves when tired of oratory during their dharnas. What about their followers? When the dharnas ended it took the CDA staff days to clean up the mess and disinfect the area.
The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore. Email: pinecitygmail.com