March report

The Islamabad police have submitted a rather damning report in the Supreme Court regarding the violence during the PTI’s Azadi March that took place at the end of last month. According to the capital police, the protesters breached the security cordon and entered the Red Zone at Chairman PTI Imran Khan’s directives despite the court’s order to hold a rally at a ground in H-9; in fact, per the report, nobody even went to the designated venue. The report further states that in a video message, Imran had asked his supporters to reach D-Chowk. According to the police, at least 21 people were injured in the clashes, and that PTI workers were also armed. The protesters also managed to remove containers and barriers as some top PTI leaders were ‘provoking their supporters’.

All through the day of the PTI’s march, mainstream media and social media had reported what the court had directed. It does belie reason that senior PTI leaders would not have known what the court had said. At the end of the day, the onus lies on the leadership that continued to urge their supporters to reach the capital and then didn’t say a word when the same protesters indulged in chaos on the streets of the capital city. Imran Khan himself admitted after the march that he called it off after having discovered that some workers had weapons on them. It is a small mercy then that better sense prevailed before things got out of control. One is reminded of the PTI’s 2014 dharna, when protesters attacked PTV headquarters and Parliament House. The PTI leadership was subsequently acquitted after coming to power – essentially no one having been held responsible. Will it be the same in this case when trees were burnt and media offices attacked?

While peaceful protest is the right of every citizen in the country and should be allowed – without the tactics resorted to by the coalition government – it is equally important that the protesting party not cross any red lines. We have already seen the TLP getting away with violence and then cutting deals instead of being punished for breaking the law. It does not bode well for our law enforcement agencies either if hooliganism is allowed in the name of protests. The government says it tried to control the mobs through teargas and shelling but the government also crossed a limit when it allowed the police to beat up unarmed and peaceful protesters. There should be some rules set for protests in the capital so that nobody’s fundamental freedoms are violated at the cost of other’s freedom to assemble. It is also now time for the PTI and its leader to decide which way they are going to go. Otherwise, recent actions by the party force only one conclusion: it is not about principle – and only about power. The whole no-confidence saga, the current demand for judicial involvement and the constant speechifying come across as distractions to obscure the basic wish: get Imran back to power.