Protests and rallies

A headache for a common man

On 3rd September 2016, a pregnant woman in Rawalpindi died in an ambulance on her way to receive treatment because the passages leading to hospitals were sealed with shipment containers and the police weren’t allowing anyone to pass through. On the same day, another, similar incident occurred in Lahore; a young boy on the way to the hospital died because he was denied access to the routes to reach the hospital in time. Such tragedies happen whenever there is a protest, be it rally or sit-in on the main roads. This is the real paradox and a general unconcern that we have developed as a society. As long as life is obscure and indigent, it is mainly insignificant.

Peaceful protests, sit-ins, rallies and demonstrations are considered as the democratic right of the people of any independent country against their government’s policies or practices. Nevertheless, in our country such democratic right is at times exploited as a tool by certain quarters – including political parties, dominant groups or multifarious organisations – to limit the effectiveness of the government and affect the life of a common man. Yet so strange is the fact that this very common man’s life has nothing to do with rallies and protests except being a helpless pawn in a game of chessboard. During these events, all the roads are blocked and protesters on the road not only impinge upon political process but disturb civic life; traffic jams, disruption in education, office schedules, functioning of hospitals, quick action of fire fighters, ambulances, security forces and many other problems, the burden of which -more often than not – falls on the common man. The lives that could be saved are wasted because no way is left for the ambulances to reach hospitals, which in developed communities is considered a deliberate act of malice.

It is very frustrating for a common man when he remains stuck in traffic for hours due to protests and rallies on roads and frustration elevates more when fuel in an automobile runs out. All this frustration converts into anger that is displaced either on oneself or others. Meanwhile driving in frustration also leads to increasing tendencies of impatience and everyone scuttles to get the way first in a mad frenzy of rat race, which jeopardises citizens’ lives, incurring the risk of fights or accidents. All this gives rise to mood swings and short temperedness in the public sphere.

Meanwhile the truth of the matter is that neither the government nor opposition gets affected by all these protests and rallies; only the common man is affected. Even those people who are forced to participate in protests and rallies are the ones who get bludgeoned by police and suffer out on the streets for being part of a deliberate set-up. A case in point is the story told by one of the servants working at my home is that the low-income people are even paid 500 rupees per day to participate in these so called protests and sit-ins. Everyone remembers the 126 days dharna for being a pain in the neck for everyone and not just because of the subsequent injuries of the participants, but also the garbage piling up on the roads, along with the major disruptions to public life. But the most important counterproductive result of it was the damaging effect that it had on the economy of Pakistan. Who in their right mind would attack the parliament of their own country and the PTV office?

In countries such as the UK and USA, specific places are demarcated for such peaceful protests and demonstrations. No one is allowed to sabotage the image of the country, or damage public property and set the cars on fire. The complete contradiction of which can be observed in Pakistan when mob-mentality get the better of sanity, so much so that protesters go into the public and government buildings and start indulging in pointless violence. Which can underscore the following maxim by all means – that it is only the absurdities that make you believe in extremities. Lastly, the only lesson that one can draw from the aforementioned analysis is that all such protests and rallies have to stop by all means and the government – in so doing – should take complete initiative in enforcing the law.

Moreover, it is in the hands of the government to provide protesters with an appropriate place for peaceful demonstrations. And it goes without saying that is also the government’s responsibility to protect both the country and its people, -including the demonstrators. The inherent purpose of which would be not to give away any such places that could give the control of the city to the protesters and concomitantly challenge the writ of the state.

There are certain circumstances where someone is murdered and their family decides to protest right in the midst of a main road to seek attention in the form of help from higher authorities to file FIR or record their injustice. But the truth of the matter is that this causes more harm than good. As more often than not this leads to further aggression and violence on part of those grieving and protesting at the same time.

There should be a complete law that protestors of any kind, regardless of circumstance, should not be allowed to roam on roads but rather protest in an appropriate place. It is further proposed that such places should be purposefully built to address all safety requirements of the crowd along with the appropriate media coverage facilities. The government should respond to the said protest or at least send a representative to listen and proactively approach the situation in an efficient and timely manner.

The actual meaning of a demonstration is to remind the higher ups of their responsibilities, duties they have neglected to fulfill: in a broader concept, delivering a message through a grand gesture. Unfortunately, we as a nation approach our right to peaceful protest very questionably and choose senseless violence instead of sending a message. And herein lies the crux of the problem.