The cradle will fall
Now, there is only so much pressure a system can take, especially one as beaten up and broken down as Pakistan’s political system. And there can be little denying that the government has, for some reason, done all it could to pile problems for itself. So much so that it has become surrounded by all strands of opposition, some openly calling for it to step down. But the trend of late has been of politics of agitation. Imran Khan has called for a million man march on Islamabad on Aug14, rather than voicing concerns through parliamentary mechanism, of which he has fought to be a part. And there’s Tahirul Qadri, back again for another ‘revolution’.
He did make quite a show during his last show of force in the PPP days. And even if it fizzled out in an embarrassing sort of way, he managed to jam the capital for a while, and a lot of people took to his sit-in. Now that the Punjab government has given him political ammunition by bungling the Model Town incident, another attack on the government is one of the options he is apparently considering very seriously. But these are very different times. The government is under tremendous stress, again, largely due to its own mistakes. More pressure will, of course, mean even worse governance, which might in turn affect the anti-insurgency operation in North Waziristan.
That does not mean, however, that the government should simply continue with its strange ways. It has done little to write home about during the last year. Terrorism has worsened, and the economy is stagnating. Very few people still believe official claims of economic turnaround, etc. The government urgently needs to reconsider its course. Otherwise it will continue providing its opponents with more squares to attack from. But those who believe that marching on the capital will bring an end to the country’s problems also miss the mark. Such affairs do not dismiss governments, only provoke more reaction. And common people invariably suffer. If the intent is to save Pakistan, then issues should be taken up politically, not on the street. Adding public non-cooperation to the country’s problems might really bring the system to a collapse, and everybody must work to prevent such a situation.
