There’s only one way to bring change in a democratic country
The longest sit-ins in the political history of Pakistan are part of the past now. The one by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) was wrapped up last month, the other by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is going to end within a week or so.
Neither the PAT nor PTI succeeded in achieving the aim they had announced when they marched on Islamabad. On August 14, when they moved out of Lahore, both vowed never to return before the announcement of Nawaz Sharif’s resignation. Tahirul Qadri went to the extreme of calling upon his followers to eliminate anyone who left Islamabad without achieving the mission.
There were differences in the slogans raised by Imran and Qadri. The first calling the procession he was leading “Azadi March”, the second naming it the “Revolution March”. Both agreed on the minimum program of bringing about the downfall of the Sharif-led PML-N government.
The sit-ins failed to achieve their goal on account of gross miscalculation by the leadership. They over-estimated their strength and under-estimated that of the government. Imran Khan hoped to gather a million marchers. The PTI march was impressive but it did not exceed a few thousand participants.
Tahirul Qadri relied on the organisational skills of his party and the devotion of his followers. Unlike the PTI workers who only turned up at the party’s evening show, euphemistically called “dharna”, many of Qadri’s followers came with entire families and pitched their tents around their leader’s trailer where they braved sunshine and rain, day in and day out, for more than two months. A child was born and a marriage celebrated in Qadri’s camp. His followers acted as members of a disciplined cult who followed the leader blindly. They were ready to undertake any desperate act on the call of the leader, But their endurance had limits. As time passed, and the miracle promised by Qadri was still nowhere in sight, the patience of many starting wearing off. When appeals did not work Qadri strictly forbade them from leaving the premises suggesting that they might be arrested.
Imran Khan and Qadri had not factored in parliament’s support for government in their calculations. They had, on the other hand, underrated parliament’s importance and rejected it as a decrepit body
The PAT following comprised mainly sections of the lower middle class and the salariat. Their leader therefore emphasised the issue of poverty. On the other hand Imran Khan, whose cadre comprised sections of upper middle class and the more educated professionals, talked about absence of merit and prevalence of corruption and nepotism in the prevailing system represented by the PML-N and PPP.
The other miscalculation was that the army would intervene to force the prime minister to resign.
Both the leaders announced several dates when they claimed the referee would raise his finger. These passed without anything happening, leading the leaders to cut a sorry figure.
As the PAT and PTI workers defied all barriers to push towards the prime minister house on August 30, army intervention looked imminent. An editorial in Dawn appearing the next morning ominously suggested that “the events of Saturday evening were highly choreographed and scripted by some power other than Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri.” It raised the question whether Sharif can survive, followed by “the answer in these frantic hours, must surely be a miserable, despondent no.”
But whatever possibility of such action existed was thwarted by the solid support provided to the beleaguered government by a united parliament. This also led those protesters who had occupied the parliament’s lawns to turn back while Qadri, who had earlier congratulated those who had attacked the PTV headquarters, tried to dissociate his party from the action.
Imran Khan and Qadri had not factored in parliament’s support for government in their calculations. They had, on the other hand, underrated parliament’s importance and rejected it as a decrepit body. As Ch Shujaat later confessed in a TV interview, the army was earlier willing to support the protesters but after parliament’s intervention in favour of the PML-N government, the army leadership decided “to retreat”.
A realisation that the army had stopped short of the final push spread demoralisation in the protestors’ ranks. The first to be affected were Tahirul Qadri’s supporters who had so far borne their suffering patiently hoping for revolution in a few days. Qadri found it increasingly difficult to stop those who wanted to leave for sickness, fear of loss of job or sheer disillusionment. Many found it humanly impossible to stay in the midst of the sickening stink of piles of dirt and human excretion around them. When Qadri finally announced the end of the sit-in, many left with a heavy heart. Some were seen crying as their dreams of a revolution were shattered.
The arrogant PML-N ministers were publicly humiliated. They had to appear before the representatives of the two leaders to beseech them to end to the agitation
Qadri’s departure exposed the hollow claims of the leaders of the sit-ins. What is more, it lay bare the emptiness of the PTI’s venue which had so far remained full of people due to the presence of the PAT workers who spent all the time in the area.
Qadri’s exposure came soon. He had earlier claimed that he was going to stay in Pakistan till he had revolutionised the system, travelling abroad only for short periods. After a month long stay in Canada he returned complaining of heart trouble and desired to go back for medical treatment. There is little chance of the PAT leader returning soon to make another bid for revolution.
Now it is Imran’s turn to call it a day. An honourable way out is available to Imran Khan. He can return to parliament. He can maintain that unlike Qadri he was only fighting for the change which has already taken place.
He would be correct only partly. There is no doubt Khan has failed to achieve his principle aim of dislodging Sharif. It would, however, be unrealistic to claim that has achieved nothing significant.
The arrogant PML-N ministers were publicly humiliated. They had to appear before the representatives of the two leaders to beseech them to end to the agitation. During the sittings of the joint session, the opposition charge sheeted them the ministers who had to patiently listen to the tirades against them.
Most of all, parliament has emerged stronger after the sit-ins than it was before. It turned out to be the major force responsible for the survival of the PML-N government. The government cannot henceforth afford to ignore it as it had done month after month after the elections. With the PTI back in the NA, it would be all the more difficult for Nawaz Sharif to ignore the opposition.
That the opposition is willing to receive the PTI with open arms despite the fun poked on it by Imran Khan would hopefully lead him to be respectful to it. Imran may find attending the National Assembly sittings a boring exercise compared to delivering addresses before crowds of admirers jubilantly responding to songs proclaiming Imran Khan’s greatness. But there is no other way to bring change in democratic country.
