Wrong way of doing the right thing?
Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan are protesting in the twin cities on the same day. The two sit-ins are being held within less than 10 kilometers of each other. Islamabad is the seat of the federal government and the presidency, prime minister house, federal secretariat, parliament and the Supreme Court all located at a stone’s throw from the D-square. Shutting down Islamabad is tantamount to shutting down the federal government. A march on the capital city is like a category-5 cyclone making landfall.
What has raised concerns is the timing of the sit-in. There is presently a visible tension between the civilian government and the army. With Mushrraf’s APML joining the PAT show and prophet of doom Sheikh Rashid that of the PTI, rumour mills have been provided enough grist.
Similar protest rallies in the capital cities of a number of countries have been used to overthrow the governments. Prominent among these are the Rose Revolution in Georgia (2002) where President Eduard Shevardnadze was forced to resign after widespread protests over the disputed parliamentary elections. Yet another fiat of the sort was performed in Ukraine through protests beginning in late November 2004 and ending in January 2005. Here too presidential election was claimed to have been marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud. The protests led to re-election resulting in the replacement of President Viktor Yanukovych by his rival Viktor Yushchenko
In both situations there were basic differences from Pakistan. Georgia and Ukraine became independent after the dissolution of Soviet Union and had no history of democratic institutions or traditions like multiparty system, independent judiciary, autonomous election commissions and free media. In both cases people were fed up with the incumbent regimes. Eduard Shevardnadze had been holding office for eight years and Viktor Yanukovych had already completed four years. Again, both enjoyed the backing of Russia. The US was keen to bring in governments friendly with the west and actively helped the opponents to during the agitation.
The removal by Thailand’s Constitutional Court of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office has set another example of removing an elected government through public pressure. There is however no likelihood of any court in Pakistan interfering to help the PMLN opponents in view of the Supreme Court’s support for the democratic system.
The removal by Thailand’s Constitutional Court of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office has set another example of removing an elected government through public pressure. There is however no likelihood of any court in Pakistan interfering to help the PMLN opponents in view of the Supreme Court’s support for the democratic system.
Again, the PML-N has been in power for eleven months only. Despite some of its glaring inadequacies that include failure to curb terrorism, continuous power and gas shortages and an irresponsive style of governance, there is a sentiment in the country to give the party a chance to fulfill its promises. The bulk of the opposition parties that include the PPP, ANP, nationalists from Balochistan, and JUIF are unwilling to lend support to any agitation aimed at removing the government in the midst of its tenure.
The US is opposed to any instability in the country as it would foil attempts to stabilise Afghanistan while it would promote the spread of militancy in the region.
Despite the PAT and PTI holding rallies on the same day, the two are putting up altogether different demands. For Imran Khan it is a protest against stolen mandate. Tahirul Qadri’s slogan for May 11 is “Protest against corrupt system”. His objection to the 2013 elections was that “corrupt and notorious politicians have been awarded with certificates of honesty and sincerity” in violation of Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution. Consequently Tahirul Qadri declared casting votes under current system a cardinal sin.
Qadri’s protest is an annual road show. It is Qadri’s version of the Tablighi Jamaat moot, though a more noisy one. It is a kind of a religious ceremony where followers of Qadri’s sect will come, raise slogans, denounce the devil called corrupt system and then leave for their homes.
Imran Khan didn’t want to be a part of Tahirul Qadri show in 2013. How could a Messiah become someone else’s follower? Tahirul Qadri wanted the entire Election Commission to be dissolved and was unhappy with the Supreme Court. While rejecting four members of the Commission appointed by the provincial governments as partisan, Khan showered praises over the Chief Election Commissioner. He also had full confidence in the Supreme Court and its Chief Justice. Despite its reservations the PTI took part in the elections. Later, when Khan found that the results didn’t match his expectations, he regretted the decision and conceded that Qadri’s objections to the Election Commission were right.
PTI won the second highest votes in 2013 polls. For a while Khan was undecided regarding the stand on the outcome of the polls. On May 14 while bedridden in Shaukat Khanum hospital he claimed the PTI had collected evidence of rigging in 25 constituencies of the National Assembly and asked the Election Commission to look into the complaints.
Imran Khan didn’t want to be a part of Tahirul Qadri show in 2013. How could a Messiah become someone else’s follower? Tahirul Qadri wanted the entire Election Commission to be dissolved and was unhappy with the Supreme Court.
A few days later Khan seemed to have reconciled with the results. He was conciliatory towards Nawaz Sharif when the later paid him a visit at the hospital. On July 1, speaking at the first meeting of the party candidates and workers of Punjab, Khan said Tehrik-e-Insaf had greatly learnt from its mistakes and would form the next government. Till complaints of rigging remained unaddressed for months, Imran was by and large satisfied with the results
The EU Election Observation Mission had taken note of ’procedural shortcomings’ witnessed during the polls but maintained that there was an ‘overall acceptance of the outcome’. The Mission had recommended implementation of improved practices to fine tune the next electoral exercise. The 140-member EU Mission formulated 50 recommendations to help ensure better transparency in future elections. Ne heed was paid to the recommendations however by the ECP or the government.
The PTI issued its White Paper on election rigging on August 21. It wanted to get a sampling of thumbprint verifications from NADRA for four constituencies only. The party still wanted to resolve the issue within the system. The Paper said “This is not to seek to overturn the elections as a whole but to ensure that such malpractices do not occur for the future. This is essential if we are to strengthen the democratic culture in this country.”
Imran Khan feels frustrated now. He says he had gone to courts, tribunals and parliament against the alleged rigging but no institution was ready to listen to him. The speaker of the National Assembly has taken stay order against his plea. After disappointment from all institutions, his party has decided to stage protest.
Imran’s complaints are not without weight. The process of redressing electoral grievances moves at a snail’s pace making the entire exercise irrelevant. The way the government removed the NADRA chief strengthens Imran Khan’s charges of rigging.
Is the sit-in meant to get the PTI’s concerns regarding rigging on certain seats addressed? Is the party seeking a change in the constitutional formula of the appointment of Election Commission? Or is it gearing up for change of government through street protests, the present sit-in being an exercise in warming up for further agitation?
Imran’s mercurial nature makes him unpredictable. His intentions will become clear only when he presents PTI’s charter of demands on May 11.
