Muhammad Usman
THERE is nothing strange about it that Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman has thrown the gauntlet with alleged tacit support of all opposition parties to upstage government of Imran Khan under the banner of his political party, JUI in the guise of its political right of protest to correct the situation. He has charged the government that it is illegitimate electorally, being handiwork of powers that be. The government has also proved itself incompetent and unresponsive to the needs and aspirations of people beyond measure and no more time could be afforded because then it would cost prohibitively to the country. The various issues of blasphemy laws and Namoos-Risalat also constitute basis for his extreme action. This may be recalled that Maulana made no secret of it when just after conclusion of general election 2018 in full glare of media, asked leaders of all opposition parties not to take oath for newly elected assemblies and join hands with him not to let Imran Khan form the government, being product of rigging/engineered elections.
Though they showed implied agreement with him primarily because of his ability to pull students from religious seminaries in sizeable number for protest/agitation but preferred holding it in reserve for want of their tactical necessities. Constrained by their mounting accountability woes and pressing other political considerations, probably now they think that it is the time to go for physical dual with Imran Khan under Maulana as a bulwark in the lead for the reason as mentioned earlier. Notwithstanding, their displayed dithering, procrastination and jugglery, they hardly leave any serious doubt or fear of contradiction that they all stand in unison and are equally desperate for their political survival. The brief appearance/utterances of Nawaz Sharif outside the jail is its stark expression. Without meaning to prejudice preference/opinion of people, it may not be inappropriate to mention that country was in total mess economically, administratively, politically, morally and socially when Imran Khan took office approximately one year earlier.
Though due to lack of his all-round performance, he is in no position to lay major claim of any substance for betterment of the country yet gigantic problems of chronic and forbidding nature all around which he inherited and his mere one year presence at helm, do not warrant his overthrow by force rather, makes the move absurd and motivated by malice. With skilful use of political chicanery, sophistry and subterfuge, opposition parties, known in common parlance, ruling elite is quite successfully managing to present that country would only await a bleak future if remains in the hands of inept Imran Khan while equally obscuring the fact artfully from eyes of ordinary people that actually they are the ones who brought the country at this terrible juncture. This ought to mar their hullabaloo even with more poverty in terms of legitimacy and authenticity. The alleged issue of rigging in elections have neither been pursued seriously by Maulana nor by rest of the opposition legally or publically during the period after the elections.
It speaks volume about hollowness of said allegation. Conventionally, media is a watchman of troubled day and night of the nation but its majority seems hand in gloves with ruling elite for reasons best known to them. They are busy day and night to present Maulana’s capability of amassing crowd and its staying power to the extent of blowing it out of proportions outrightly while conveniently pushing its one important negative aspect under the carpet. On good reasons, one could easily say that crowd of Maulana essentially consists of students from religious Madaris. They are unfortunate and marooned lot of our society. Admittedly, they have all rights under the sun as other citizens of the country have including right of protest however, how they are brought to protest or sit in places makes a case of attendance under duress. In most instances, they give an impression of a captive crowd which in turn ultimately, present itself an unrepresentative crowd.
Maulana is himself conscious of this fact and hastened to categorize participation of students from Madaris a small segment of his crowd whereas, situation is altogether different. Out of such crowd, some people are tasked and trained to create disturbance deliberately and challenge the writ of the State. The news items are already making rounds that JUI is also preparing similar squads which could cause alarming situation. A political government ought to show positive disposition to protest of people. In case of a genuine protest, it must coax protesting people even by conceding to their demands quickly and generously. This is the best course of action to calm down their anger before it touches high water mark. In case of an unwarranted, unrepresentative and violent protest by design, most suitable strategy is what government has done against hooliganism of Tehreek-e-Labbaik which is now a history. Regardless of backing of all opposition parties, protest of Maulana may tend to be as of Tehreek-e-Labbaik thus, needs to be dealt with cautiously. As a first measure, government should stop JUI (F) to bring students from Madaris as it is illegal. This may puncture its claims of bringing massive crowds to Islamabad and PML (N), PPP and other opposition parties would be unable to make up the shortfall thus caused because of their inability to bring people on roads. Possibly, they would refrain to put it to test.
— The writer, a retired Lt Col, is freelance columnist based in Islamabad.
