Dharna is now talk of the town and
it is an omnipresent topic in all walks of life. The date of Maulana Fazal ur
Rehman’s Dharna “Azadi March” is nearing and every coming day is making the
government nervous. I had earlier advised the Prime Minister Imran Khan through
a TV interview one month back that he should keep his ego aside and visit
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Mian Shehbaz Sharrif and other
political leaders and should talk with them politically to defuse the political
uncertainty in the country. The political scenario would have been different
and the upcoming political move of Maulana Fazalur Rehman would have been
frustrated if the PM Imran Khan could have understood and acted on my advice.
We as nation have been trapped in
numerous issues which have become now sources of depression in all circles.
Nabbing by National Accountability Bureau has been scaring the politicians, bureaucratic
and business community whereas the escalating inflation and price hike have put
the poor and middle class in terrible distress.
Now the news of Dharna has
certainly created uncertainty and chaos in the minds of people of Pakistan
particular it is scarier for the citizen of Islamabad based on their past bad
memories of Dharna when business was halted and the doors of schools were shut
for children. The previous Dharna have taught us some lessons that must not be
ignored. Parliamentary procedure should be adopted by opposition for any
political movement against the government rather creating uncertainty among
masses by sit-ins, blocking roads and shutting the schools, markets and
hospitals.
Historically Dharna is a Hindi word
for a non-violent sit-in protest to receive fast justice, state response or
payment of a debt. The word originates from the Sanskrit word Dharna. In the
time of all India, when there were the colonial system, Dharna was used as a
popular form of public protest to express strong disagreement, disapproval and
opposition to some action or something. It was also used as part of Mahatma
Gandhi’s Satyagraha form of civil disobedience and protest during Indian
Independence Movement. But, now we are independent nation and it is our own
country where differences could be resolved through meaningful political
dialogue rather still behaving and acting like under siege and unfortunately
Dharna has become a pressurizing political tool in the hands of opposition.
Factually, in Pakistan along with use of other forms of protests and strikes, sit-in has received more popularity. The Dharna tactic in Pakistan was first used in 1958 by the first Chief Minister of the NWFP Late Abdul Qayyum Khan against the Prime Minister Feroze Khan’s administration to remove his President Iskander Mirza. It is part of history that Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) Dharna helped General Zia ul Haq to oust Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto- the first elected Prime Minister in the history of Pakistan and PNA used mosques to stimulate the masses. Unfortunately Dharnas have never served the democracy rather served latent aid to over throw the democratic governments. Qazi Hussain Ahmed then JI Amir organised Dharna against PPP government in 1993 and the government of PPP was sent home within the period of its launch from Rawalpindi to Islamabad. Moreover, murder cases were registered against the then Interior Minister late General Naseer ullah Babar and Commissioner Rawalpindi and both went to graves with the false FIR against them.
I as then Interior Minister
experienced and faced the Long March for Restoration of Judiciary. On 9th March
2007, General Musharaf deposed the then-Chief Justice Iftekhar Muhammad
Chaudhary along with sixty other judges and dissolved the judiciary which led
to a nationwide lawyers’ long march. The March was first of its kind that
demanded the restoration of judiciary. The judges were restored for some time
until Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in the country and sent the Chief
Justice home for a second time. Later in 2009, under PPP government, Nawaz
Sharif along with Imran Khan and Qazi Hussain Ahmed planned a sit-in protest
and against PPP. I was the one to handle that potential Dharna before it could
enter Islamabad whose only purpose was to overthrow our government in the name
of ‘Restoration of Judiciary’ but timely political wisdom and dialogue worked
out and successfully averted the situation. On directions of then President
Asif Ali Zardari, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was reinstated as the Chief
Justice on my recommendations and there was no role of anybody else in this
restoration. After this, there was a second Dharna in 2013 during my tenure
when Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) under Dr. Tahir Ul Qadri marched from Lahore
and staged a sit-in against Pakistan People’s Party Government in front of
Parliament House Islamabad which was also successfully averted and PAT was
brought to the table through dialogue resultantly the said Dharna ended without
any loss of life. This Dharna was planned in London backed by a powerful
business house and duly backed by powerful quarters which I will write in
details one day about the supports and protectors of the said Dharna.
On the other hand, during Nawaz Government, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek Lahore Dharna was not dealt politically through negotiation resultantly turned into a war Zone on 17th June 2014 taking the lives of dozens of workers of PAT hence we should not forget such aggressive political moves might lose chances of a peaceful settlement of the issues and can take many innocent lives when such mobs become unruly.
I was nominated as Chief of
Political Jirga when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) under Imran Khan held a
Dharna against Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government. When the government
was unable to defuse the impasse, I took the responsibility and by the grace of
Allah Almighty, I was able to have it ended peacefully with the endless efforts
of other members of the Jirga and the proceeding of this Jirga are part of the
public record. JI chief Senator Siraj Ul Haq, Senator Ishaq Dar, Jehangir
Tareen, Senator Hasil Benzjo and Senator Kalsoom Parveen and others played
outstanding role in ending that 126 long Dharna of PTI. To defuse the deadlock
and find a peaceful solution, several times, I met Imran Khan and Dr. Tahir Ul
Qadri as part of the efforts. I have this honour to head and host this high
powered Political Jirga and it was successfully concluded and I had full the
confidence of President Asif Ali Zardari and my party - PPP.
The sit-ins led by Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf ( PTI) and Tahir-ul-Qadri of Pakistan Awami Tehreek along with billions rupees loss to the country economy, had also resulted in the cancellation of highly important visit by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and postponement of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s maiden visit in 2014.
The people have very fresh memories
of Faizabad’ sit-in where Islamabad was crippled for many days and it resulted
with negativities incidentally. The sit-in was held in November 2017 by
Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah political party which hampered the daily life
in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as well as other cities across
Pakistan. Now other political and religious leaders are also attempting to use
this strategy of Dharna for their political gains and purposes. The history of
Dharnas and lockdowns in Pakistan have resulted into victory of politicians but
failure of democracy. Our country has been under siege by rumours, poor law
enforcement, corrupt systems, protests, sit in’s and mainly because of the
wedge between the Government and the institutions for the past few years and it
looks the Dharna is now way of politics in Pakistan.
This Dharna could have been avoided
if the government had kept the political environment cordial and political
instead of following the politics of abusive syndrome for political opponents
and nabbing them through NAB.
The Dharna tactics bound to bring
political instability and discourages economic growth which eventually puts
adverse effects on the socio-economic and political environment of a country.
Consequently, the political instability will further reduce economic growth and
will escalate inflation and price hike. A big question in the minds of the
public that is Dharna going to be future way of politics or an effective tool
as a counter force to keep the governments in place. I am of firm view that all
Dharna in past have ended either by the fall of governments or ended with
skilful political negotiation playing a win win situation and handling
skilfully.
Let us see that will the
negotiations succeed this time or evolution of a new system over a period of
time may emerge in light of worst law and order and ever worsening of economy
which has already made the life of a common man miserable. I hope the political
leadership realizes the most difficult and sensitive time being faced by our
beloved Pakistan from India, Afghanistan and USA.
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