LAHORE - The PML-N government is focusing on PTI’s Azadi march on August 14 and is in a quandary about the revolution through which the PAT chief has announced to scrap the whole system and the administration.
The government is right now taking steps to frustrate the Azadi march for which it has floated a number of options and offers to Imran Khan’s party.
On the other hand, the government is aware that Tahirul Qadri is going to unleash something against it and that he is making preparations, but it is uncertain about what the man from Canada would take out from his bag of tricks.
For the government PAT is not as lethal as the PTI which is a full-fledged political force with its government in a province and a considerable representation in the Parliament. Political pundits, however, view the situation may not be as the government visualises.
Though the PAT chief has not announced the date for calling his supporters and workers to come on the roads, he has been giving outlines of the revolution in media interaction, which are so misty that no one can decipher as to what the revolution would exactly be. This fact is also keeping the government on the tenterhooks. It is still unclear how many people would join the PAT revolutionary movement, what would be its intensity, beginning point and the areas it would cover. All are so much shrouded in mystery that no exact clue to all this is reaching out to the high-ups through their spy agencies deputed to this task, said an insider of the PML-N quarters.
What has been gathered from interaction with various sources in the government and the PML-N is that the government right now has different options to deal with the PTI protest while the PAT seems to be framing its revolutionary strategy, keeping in view the outcome of ‘tsunami Azadi march’.
It is crystal clear that both PTI and PAT have well in their mind the situation Pakistan is passing through on account of the military operation in North Waziristan, a large number of IDPs from the war-zone and importance of the operation’s success for the country, which is the voice of the whole nation. As such both the parties would not like their protest to affect the military operation. Even if the operation comes to an end by August 14, the question of rehabilitation of the IDPs would be there and the government and the armed forces are already committed to putting in their efforts in this regard. As such PTI and PAT are treading carefully, keeping in mind that the fountainhead of ‘change’ in the country at present is busy somewhere else and not looking at them.
So the August 14 Azadi march is not that serious question for the government as it was some days ago. Therefore, the PML-N government is repeatedly asking the PTI to shun the politics of long marches and come to talks or reach the forum of the parliament to get their genuine grievances addressed for the present time is not conducive to it.
As to the electoral reforms, the government is seeking names of the senators for this purpose and negotiating with the leader of the opposition for the appointment of a permanent chief election commissioner. If a tangible headway is made on this point by D-Day, the sails of the protesters would lose much of the wind. Even if the PTI goes for any protest march, the government wants the same to remain quite peaceful and violence-free, starting and ending on time. So permission to hold the protest would be given to PTI only on this condition. The army and the government are one on disallowing any room for terrorists to regain the lost ground to begin targeting innocent citizens in cities and streets.
The sources say the government has drawn a red line for a peaceful protest and if that line is crossed, the law would come into action with full force.
The anti-government parties also want to fortify the protest and make their show more impressive in the eye of the international community.
Some days back, PPP Co-chairman and former President Asif Ali Zardari admonished the prime minister and asked him to avoid acting as a ‘monarch’, favouring Imran Khan on his demand for recounting in four constituencies. This statement gave a big heart to Khan who expanded his demand to the audit of the whole election while presuming that the PPP would move with him in the protest against the government. But the situation has now utterly changed as Asif Ali Zardari is in the US, meeting the American dignitaries while Opposition Leader in NA Khursheed Shah is making efforts to bring the government and the PTI to talk table for a peaceful settlement instead of resolving the issue through street protest. Sindh PA deputy speaker and PPP leader, Shehla Raza, has stated the army, US, UK, and UAE guaranteed an agreement that martial law would not be imposed until three successive elections in the country and Zardari is in the US to remind them of this promise. This statement is demoralising for the protesters who want to turn everything topsy-turvy to pave way for the third force. PPP itself is somewhat facing internal differences, which is evident from the recent statement of former PM Gilani on Musharraf’s release deal.
In this situation, the government is feeling relaxed as regards PTI’s protest while it has a vague strategy towards PAT which it is countering through statements. PAT appears to be waiting for the results of the PTI protest while its revolutionary programme, in view of the political observers, is not getting much acceptance from the public. Moreover, if the PTI protest succeeds on the acceptance of its demand for vote count, then things would be in favour of the current system and the dream of PAT to derail the system will itself derail. And if the government succeeds in curbing the PTI march, then it would feel it easy to deal with a party which does not have representation in the parliament. But there is a big difference that PAT has diehard workers unlike PTI and their commitment to Dr Sahib to ‘do or die’ is very firm. So their act may be a big challenge for the government even if the PTI tsunami fails.