Strategy or just anger from Imran and TuQ?
The police has been an unintended but integral part of the revolutions now in their second month. But, right from the Model Town incident, rather than represent government muscle, it has become cause for the executive’s embarrassment. And it’s not the police that is to blame. After the 14 deaths in Lahore, the IG set a notable precedent. In a place where refusing the secretariat can harm more than an officer’s promotions, the decision not to confront an agitated mob without written orders from the CM was appreciated not only as brave, but also the right thing to do.
Yet, time and again, it is the government that comes across as a group of hardliners unwilling, or perhaps unable, to learn from its mistakes. The police was employed again in Islamabad when the protests moved to the parliament, with regrettable consequences. And it is being used again, officially a reaction to ‘vandalism’, but in fact just another one of those intimidation drives for which the N league has had to face so much criticism. And to be fair, at least as far as Imran and TuQ’s verbal assaults on the police are concerned, they did say initially that problems arose only when the institution became a personal instrument of the ruling party. Sadly though, when the law interferes with what they call rightful and peaceful protests, that difference no longer holds, at least for them.
But have Khan and Qadri considered what their attacks on the police hierarchy are going to achieve, if anything at all? Granted, both leaders were able to put a fear of sorts in our law enforcers – a rarity in itself— which is why a large section of civil society, even those who do not agree with the dharnas, breathed a sigh of relief. But instead of their usual sabre rattling, these leaders should now begin to leverage legal, political and media openings. The IHC, the opposition Jirga and large sections of the press are calling for the release of thousands of PTI and PAT workers held without any solid reason. Perhaps if they pursued this track, they might see their message being received more seriously by people who are still confused, despite the unpredictable longevity of the protests.