The politics of agitation and protests
Imran Khan held a rally in Faisalabad, the second largest city of Punjab on Sunday while the MQM held a rally in Karachi, the most populous city in the country. Both the parties enjoy a significant presence in Parliament. The PTI is also ruling KP while the MQM is the PPP’s coalition partner in Sindh. It is odd under the circumstances for two parties which are part of the system to go for public protests. Democracy provides a number of forums for redressal of grievances which include Parliament, courts and media. It is unusual in any democracy for parties to take recourse to public gatherings when other options are available. This shows a lack of trust in the three important pillars of state.
For Imran Khan this was the second public rally after the one in Islamabad within less than three weeks. The next is scheduled for Sialkot in about two weeks. At Sialkot Khan will presumably announce the venue and the timing for the next protest gathering as according to him the mass movement is to continue until his targets are achieved. At Islamabad rally Khan had put up nine demands while in Faisalabad he focused on two i.e., recounting of votes after the verification of thumb impressions in four National Assembly constituencies and the reconstitution of the Election Commission after further strengthening it. The issue of recounting is a thorny one. As CJ Tassaduq Hussain Jillian put it during a hearing of PTI’s petition asking for the remedy, “If we start looking into this petition, there would be no end.” PML-N minister Saad Rafiq invited Khan to agree to a parliamentary fact-finding committee before which both the government and the PTI can submit evidence of rigging in elections in four constituencies each. The demand for the reconstitution of the Election Commission too cannot be fulfilled unless the present Election Commissioners volunteer to resign. Forcing them to resign through public pressure would not set a good tradition. It is also not clear if Khan would be agreeable to a new EC appointed by the government and opposition as required under the constitution. It would be more appropriate to resolve the two issues through consultations with other parliamentary parties rather than taking recourse to street power.
One fails to understand the reason for holding of a rally in Karachi against the freezing of Altaf Hussain’s bank accounts in the UK. If the action has been taken without any proof against the MQM leader, as alleged by Farooq Sattar, the best way for the party would be to seek legal remedy in London where courts are free. And if the party must protest, the right venue is 10 Downing Street rather than Karachi’s Tibet Centre.