Democratic chaos in Pakistan

The political situation in Pakistan has been under duress for the last month because of the ongoing opposition long marches. The two long marches, one carried by Dr Tahirul Qadri’s PAT (Pakistan Awami Tehreek) and the other by Imran Khan’s PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) have been the source of constant headache for the government. The two parties have presented different demands but the common point in their agenda has been the resignation of the current Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. The government seems paralysed where dealing with these events is concerned. The government’s incapability to deal with the current crisis became more apparent as PTI’s Chief Imran Khan first called for a ‘civil-disobedience movement’ which is not a wise move as PTI is currently exercising its power in one province.

In European societies, the movement of civil disobedience is the most legitimate and organised way to get rid of the governments who are performing or delivering to the people. In Sub-continent, the only call for Civil disobedience was given by Mahatma Gandhi back in 1930.

The examples of the call for civil disobedience have also been given by Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and it worked very effectively. In the developing countries like Pakistan people are more concerned about ‘roti, kapra aur makaan’ rather than the political stunts. As it has only been fourteen months since Nawaz Sharif took office for the third time. What made this government more important was the fact that it was the first government which achieved a successful democratic transition in the history of Pakistan.

Imran Khan’s demand of recounting of votes in four constituencies was never taken seriously by the government. Then the introduction of Dr Tahirul Qadri in the political scene and model town incident further added flames to this crisis and soon the things became out of control. It can be observed that the government was reluctant on every forum whether to resolve this political issue or to accept any kind of liability in the form of characters like Gullu Butt.

Now, when the crisis escalated, after both the opposition and the military took extreme stands the army was called upon to resolve this issue. Some people term it as a conspiracy that who called army to intervene and moderate the talk in this triangle. Whosoever is behind this it is proven that democracy is a mere concept if the boots are there to moderate and control the issue between political parties. All the struggles and sacrifices by different forces in the previous years will go in vain if this intervention is supposed to happen.

ASAD ULLAH KHAN

Islamabad