PTI’s Plan C starts with violence in Faisalabad
The Punjab government miserably failed to maintain law and order in Faisalabad. It was widely known that tension was rising between the activists of the two parties by the day. It was the responsibility of the government to ensure peace with the help of the state agencies. It was necessary to ensure that the PML-N activists did not disrupt the protest. In case of the PTI workers indulging in illegal acts, the police could have dealt with them with appropriate force. Most people in the country would have supported the action.
This is not what the government did. It decided to deploy party activists to confront the PTI workers. By forenoon, clashes had already started between the two sides leading to firing that killed a PTI protester. The induction of PML-N activists created problems for the police itself which was sandwiched between rival groups trying to attack each other. Attempts to disperse an opposition party’s rally with the help of the ruling party’s club wielding activists was bound to be widely resented. The killing of the PTI activist roused sympathy for the party. The PML-N leadership failed to learn from the Model Town killings. Rana Sanaullah who was being associated with the firing at PAT activists was the last person who should have been assigned the responsibility to keep Faisalabad peaceful.
The first day of the Plan C began with violence. The local PTI leadership is to be blamed as it failed to ensure that its workers did not burn tyres as they were seen doing earlier on the day. This constituted a violation of the commitment made earlier by Imran Khan to remain peaceful throughout the shutdown.
The man accused of firing has been identified. One expects the government to cooperate fully with the aggrieved party in pursuing the murder case. In his brief speech in Faisalabad Imran Khan has called for countrywide mourning on Tuesday. Only statesmanship on the part of the PTI chief can douse the fire lighted by the irresponsibility of those in the PML-N assigned the task to keep Faisalabad peaceful.