Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry Friday said there was no room for mob politics or forcing demands on the government through street power.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he said the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was spreading disorder rather than staging a lawful protest. He insisted the state won’t let any group hold it to ransom and said peaceful protest was a right but disorder would not be tolerated.
There is an impression that the country is progressing and its stature has elevated in the comity of nations but regrettably its political milieu has not changed as there is still a focus on protests, strikes and violence, sending a wrong message to the outside world. A few days back, violent protests were staged in Azad Kashmir, making mockery of the writ of the Government and the issues were ultimately resolved at the negotiating table. As pointed out by the Minister, the TLP is entitled to protests but the question arises as to why agitate an issue and that too in a violent manner when an accord for peace has been signed by one of the main players – Hamas.
Pakistan is not a direct party to the conflict and both the Government and people of Pakistan always extended their moral and diplomatic support to the cause of the people of Palestine. Pakistan has all along condemned Israeli aggression in Gaza and its attempts to infringe upon rights of Palestinians. This being so, there was no need to organize long marches that have resulted in disruption of normal life, creating enormous problems for people.
The Government too is responsible for the messy situation as instead of holding timely dialogue with organizers, it relied heavily on measures that have compounded the woes of the citizens – deployment of containers and suspension of Internet service. It seems ‘ease of security operations’ is more important than ease of doing business, a strategy that is ruining prospects of development and adding to the frustration of the people.
