ISLAMABAD: The government is in a catch-22 situation in regard to the lingering blockade, now in its nineteenth day, of the federal capital by activists of some religious parties with two superior courts strongly urging it to quickly wrap up the protest to rid people of acute sufferings.
The policy adopted by the federal and Punjab governments is so far not unpraiseworthy: they desire to wind up the protest peacefully and don’t want any casualties. They are observing utmost care and caution mainly because of reports that some participants of the sit-in are equipped with lethal weapons that they will use if they were forcibly removed from the venue. The arms they have are not visible, but the long sticks and iron rods they possess and show are evident.
Even if the demonstrators don’t have weapons in their possession, as claimed by the government, the ruling political leadership is unlikely to order use of force to dissolve the protest as it has learnt bitter lessons from the 2014 Model Town Lahore tragedy, which keeps haunting the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
There is no doubt left by now that when the agitators have consistently dismissed all sorts of dispassionate calls to go home as their main demand has already been met, they want the government to rope in to employ force against them. Results of such an encounter are always difficult to predict. Since the bloody Model Town episode, the PML-N has come to grips with the harsh reality that come what may it will not resort to force because its consequences are always dangerous.
Already, some anti-PML-N elements, which want the administration to use force against the present agitators so that casualties take place, have been saying publicly that in a couple of months the Model Town case will further encircle the Sharif brothers in a bid to besiege them further.
The administration is walking a tightrope: trying to avoid disobedience of the strict judicial orders and observations as well as shunning an operation against the agitators to prevent any bodily harm to them. Obviously, the middle way is difficult to tread when the apex court and IHC have slammed the government for its inaction and indecisiveness to disperse the crowd.
The official policy seems to exhaust the protesters in the cold weather to the extent that they themselves choose to leave the strategic point, which, when blocked, chokes the capital. However, the agitators are not apparently giving any signs of fatigue and are holding their position. They were stuck to the Faizabad intersection even during recent rains.
In the ongoing saga, while the government is embarrassed and cornered, the police and paramilitary forces are hard pressed as some of their personnel have been beaten and injured by the protesters in order to provoke them. Some of them were kidnapped, who were promptly got released by their colleagues.
The administration has belatedly started cutting off the supply line of food and manpower to the protesters. A majority of the agitators are those who initially came here. But more activists keep coming, replacing some of those present already.
A new element of protests in Islamabad has now emerged with the seizure of the Faizabad interchange. Previously, all kinds of demonstrators had been stubborn to occupy the D-Chowk, but now a new more important spot – the Faizabad intersection – has been discovered. The purpose of all such protests is to disrupt the daily life in Islamabad, which can be done much better by capturing this point.
By occupying the D-Chowk, the daily life may not be as much disturbed as it had been by grabbing the Faizabad interchange. The hardships of the commuters, having small financial means, can be well gauged from the fact that the metro bus that was catering to them stands suspended for the last 19 days. During this period, they have to pay much more to travel to and from the capital for their jobs and other activities.
As the Faizabad seizure continues unabated with no signs of its early end, the PML-N’s opponents are hoping that the government loses patience and resorts to force. Then, all of them will curse it for its inefficiency and incompetence to cash in on the situation. If there are casualties, God forbid, they will be too happy to get political gains. Such a scenario will push the PMK-N in a tight corner.
All protests of this nature have always been a specific agenda to achieve. One of their objectives had always been to hurt the writ of the state, civilian government and democratic dispensation. The 2014 sit-ins of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) targeted the democratic system, which became weak and mauled due to the unheard of violent activities that took place during that protest. The abortive lockdown of Islamabad was also aimed at further harming the civilian rule and making a mockery of it.
Now when PTI Chairman Imran Khan says that four criminal cases registered against him for the violence committed in the 2014 protest are politically motivated, most people are at a loss to comprehend his logic.
