Long march, again

The much-promised long march date is finally here. PTI Chairman Imran Khan has given a call for a long march to Islamabad, to begin from Lahore on Friday, October 28. Khan’s call for a long march has come to be seen as a last resort to put pressure on the PDM government to call early elections. Also important is that the march starts in October right before the highly anticipated month of November, leading PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to tweet that Imran’s long march is not a ‘revolution’ but a way to manipulate November’s outcome. Imran’s ‘Haqiqi Azadi March’ also comes days after the mysterious murder of journalist Arshad Sharif. While thus far Imran’s aggressive speeches have not yielded any results the PTI would welcome, it seems this may be his last trump card: take enough people to the streets to cause some consternation in the power corridors.

While peaceful protest is the right of every citizen, demanding that a civilian government wrap up because mobs have immobilized the federal capital is undemocratic — and unfortunately seems to have become a bit of a habit with our former prime minister. Imran’s 2014 dharna lasted for over 100 days but he was not able to get any desired results, especially the resignation of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. We have seen other long marches and dharnas in the past, including Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s during Imran Khan’s tenure. But neither did the skies fall nor the government.

Some questions are also being raised over whether this call was given after a breakdown of backdoor negotiations between the PTI and power stakeholders or if this signifies a breakthrough instead. Back in May, Imran had called off his long march at the last minute. There is also scepticism whether he will be able to mobilize enough people, especially since there have been murmurs that some in the PTI may be opposed to a long march. However, observers say that with two provincial governments on its side — Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — the long march shouldn’t face many hurdles if it is planned well. The government is not taking the march lightly, having turned to the Supreme Court for some respite but facing yet another rejection, the apex court saying it will not stop the march. Mixed in with all this are fears of violence or clashes during the march — fears that have only been added to by a somewhat confusing press talk by the PTI’s Faisal Vawda who has warned of blood on the streets during the march. At the end of the day, will anyone among our ruling elite step back because the moment is ripe for the democratic process to be completely derailed? Do our political actors not worry about such lethal disruptions to the democratic process? What we need most — more than marches and pressers — is for the government and the PTI to sit at the negotiating table instead of having a face-off that can wrap up democracy in the country. Pakistan has seen enough political instability to last us a lifetime. We cannot spend another lifetime trying to battle instability and unnecessary undemocratic interventions.