POLITICAL temperature is going to surge in coming days and weeks as both Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have announced their protest plans though in different contexts. Former Prime Minister and founding Chairman of the PTI Imran Khan has once again appealed to the overseas Pakistanis to continue to boycott sending remittances back home as “sending money to this government strengthens the very hands that are tightening the noose around your necks.” He also called for nationwide demonstrations on Feb. 8, marking the contentious 2024 elections as a “Black Day.” And JI chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman has announced plans for a country-wide protest on January 31on the issue of Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
The protest by the JI is understandable and will have the backing of the people as the Government is taking too much time in announcing its promised reduction in the electricity tariff. The Government has concluded revision of contracts with IPPs claiming these would result in savings of hundreds of billions of rupees but there is no tangible move to transfer this relief to the consumers. The JI deserves credit for keeping the issue alive and hopefully its continued focus will ultimately force the Government to fulfill its pledges in this regard at the earliest. As for the PTI, it has all along been agitating the issue of alleged rigging in general elections, a charge vehemently denied by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Strangely enough, the party dropped the demand for ‘return of the mandate’ in the charter of demands it handed over to the Government during the last round of negotiations but it intends to launch nation-wide protests on February 08. In an ‘X’ post, Imran Khan urged people from Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa and Northern Punjab to gather in Swabi for protests, while others have been asked to hold demonstrations in their respective cities. Most of the protests by the party turned violent and added to the miseries of the workers and the leadership and with this in view the party needs to exercise maximum caution to ensure the protests remain peaceful. Notwithstanding the fact that the overseas Pakistanis paid no heed to the earlier call of IK not to remit money to the country as it strengthens the hands of the Government, which the PTI considers as illegitimate and product of rigging. This is part of the ‘civil disobedience’ movement that the party has launched despite advice to the contrary by its allies and well-wishers. There have been consistent appeals by patriotic circles that the politicians should agree on a charter of economy so that the country moves forward on the economic front irrespective of who is in power and who is out on the streets. All politicians and political parties claim to be champions of the cause of the people and want the country to prosper economically but such claims turn out to be hollow as their practical steps and approaches prove otherwise. Remittances by overseas Pakistanis play a crucial role in stabilizing the economy and a significant reduction in their flow could force the country to seek more loans from bilateral and multilateral sources, adding to the burden of debts that have already assumed a menacing dimension. People of Pakistan have offered immense sacrifices in terms of record inflation, increased taxes and structural reforms for the sake of economic stabilization and growth and therefore, these sacrifices must not be allowed to go to waste. Protests are part and parcel of the democratic process but these have to be within the parameters of the law and the Constitution. We have been emphasizing in these columns that the PTI is one of the major stakeholders in the system and instead of perpetual protests it should focus on delivery in KP and play the role of an effective opposition in the parliament.
