Dealing with violence

By Editorial Board
April 15, 2021

Once again, the past two days saw state forces confronting the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which came out in protest on the streets of major cities across the country, following the arrest of their leader Saad Hussain Rizvi. The violent protests disrupted traffic and the lives of citizens who were stuck at highways and major thoroughfares mostly in Punjab. The end result: protesters on the streets and highways; citizens stuck in the middle; ambulances and medical supplies choked; and the police force – which was bravely on the ground – facing violent mobs in many places. Four people were killed in clashes between police and the protesters, including at least one policeman, with the TLP opening fire on unarmed police who had been sent out completely unprepared to face a group of protesters with so much organisation and firepower at its disposal. On Wednesday, the government announced its intention to ban the TLP; the matter will now be taken up by the federal cabinet.

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Once again, the overall situation showed up the weakness of our state. It is absolutely essential if Pakistan is to survive as a nation that is able to provide security and safety to its people that forces like the TLP be brought under control and prevented from simply running amok on the streets. This has happened before – remember Faizabad? But this time the state’s action in banning the group under relevant sections of the law may send out a message. One hopes there are no more appeasement gestures after what has gone on the past few days in the country. After all, through its history, Pakistan has learnt that attempting to negotiate with extremist forces brings no beneficial results. Indeed, it has only added to mayhem and chaos in a country that badly needs stability and harmony.

And this harmony can only be built by ensuring that, while the right to protest is upheld for any and all parts of society, such protest remains peaceful. Allowing any group or party to terrorise whole areas in cities is a bad idea because giving in to groups that resort to violence and spread the idea that violent extremism can work is extremely dangerous in a country like ours. The state needs to rethink its approach to groups like the TLP – which was empowered by being allowed to register as a political party and contest elections even though it routinely indulged in hate speech, advocated violence against the state and staged protests that were themselves violent. Our experience with militancy should have taught us that accommodating extremist groups never works. If the current action against the group is the start of a rethink of how we imagine our polity and our future generations’ fate, then there may be some hope but if things are allowed to just continue as is, without a real shift in ideological narratives, then this will be just another false dawn.

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