Imran faces daunting task of pulling crowd

ISLAMABAD: A daunting challenge that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan faces is to at least match, if not magnify his crowd at Friday’s Raiwind March, what he brought to Islamabad’s D-Chowk in 2014 at the height of his popularity.

Before offering more comments on the planned protest, it will be instructive to examine its timing. The demonstration was always described by saner elements as mistimed and inappropriate mainly because of the belligerent Indian posturing and sabre-rattling. Just a few hours before the columns of protesters will begin converging at the Adda Plot, India actually aggressed by firing at the Line of Control in which two Pakistan army soldiers embraced martyrdom.

Only a top politician of Imran Khan’s type and ilk has bizarre guts and audacity to insist on going ahead with the protest at this time of extreme hostilities between Pakistan and India with the latter determined to “penalise and isolate” the former.

Never in the last several years, had tensions between the two nuclear neighbours touched this level. Considering the humiliation Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suffered because of the Kashmiris’ struggle and Pakistan’s powerful projection of the Kashmir cause, there is a strong possibility that he will strike again. In this environment, the Raiwind march appears to be a rude shock, reflecting its organisers’ insensitivity to the alarming situation.

Immediately after the firing (that New Delhi painted as surgical strike) at the Line of Control (LoC), the Indian government convened an all-parties conference. In Pakistan, the government is mulling over such option and will certainly invite the PTI. Obviously, there is no occasion to organise protests when national unity, cohesion and harmony is direly needed.

However, it is widely doubted that Imran Khan will be able to even equal the 2014 tally, which, by all permutations, was not very menacing. It was then argued by many that had he been successful to attract even a couple of hundreds of thousands of people, the Nawaz Sharif government would have been shown the exit door. At the time, he had the luxury of permanent availability of thousands of followers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Allama Tahirul Qadri, who perennially kept Imran Khan’s gathering swelled for months. Now, there will be no such zealots to display the gathering big and do what their cult leader would command them.

It is known to everybody when Qadri’s disciples unceremoniously abandoned the D-Chowk, without accomplishing the mission and revolution they had been falsely promised, Imran Khan’s protest became a total damp squib. Time came when he used to deliver his daily nightly address from his container to empty chairs. But still it was shown live by agenda-driven TV channels.

The preparations for the Raiwind march themselves amply speak about the magnitude of hordes that would emerge at the venue. When the PTI chairman firmed up the date for this protest a few days back, he stated that caravans of his party would start leaving their homes for Raiwind from all parts of Pakistan on September 24 and they would be provided boarding and lodging there. But not a single such convoy has departed from any region of Pakistan. Just a couple of buses started their journey for Lahore from Karachi on Wednesday. Thus, the great call went unheeded.

However, Imran Khan expects that a large number of buses, coasters and cars will rush to the venue from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with his provincial government working hard to make the Raiwind march a success. Besides, he hopes that thousands of

Lahorites will participate in it. He believes that the location of Adda Plot was an advantage over the 2014 venue as Lahore is a populous city where he is very popular and he will attract a large crowd.

By saying that his protest will not end even after this show the PTI chairman has conceded that the Raiwind march will not be protracted or converted into a sit-in like before. The PTI has committed in writing to the Lahore administration while getting the permission that it is holding a public meeting, which will be a one-day show. However, it is known for violating even the written commitments.

The 2014 sit-in had to be wrapped up without achieving its intended objective – ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This time, too, the intent and purpose is the same. Previously, Imran Khan’s protest was greatly provided force, vigour and strength by Qadri, a factor that is now missing and which will affect the crowd tally. Whatever the PTI chairman will be able to gather at the Adda Plot will his sole power. Every political party has rejected this kind of protest close to the premier’s private residence and avowed its opposition to it. Imran Khan is a lone ranger, a fact which itself doesn’t augur well for any protest campaign that can be frightening for the government.