LAHORE - The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf is scheduled to hold demonstrations in various districts of Punjab today to protest the alleged rigging in by-election on a provincial seat. Necessary programmes have been chalked out in compliance with the leadership’s call.
On Saturday, the party had set up protest camps in the provincial metropolis, which were uprooted by the police. A number of party leaders were arrested, and then released on orders from the Punjab chief minister. The issue remained on the TV screens for the whole day.
It is alleged that the PTI candidate had won the seat (PP-150) by about 2,000 votes, but some unknown hands changed the results and the seat went to the ruling party nominee.
The PTI’s allegation may or may not be well-founded, but its protest is certainly not justified, especially when the seat in dispute is just one. The PTI will not have grown stronger and the PML-N will not have gone weaker even if the result had been in line with the aspirations of the protesters.
On the other hand, the country is facing countless problems which have made the lives of the common people miserable. The repeated increases in the power and gas tariffs and petroleum prices have raised the prices of almost all items of daily use and made them unaffordable.
The situation demands that all parties pool their energies to help the ordinary mortal survive. They should devise policies to navigate the country out of the difficulties.
Protests would simply be a waste of time – and an exercise in futility. An issue which can be taken to courts, or discussed in assemblies, should not be taken to the streets. And if the PTI thinks that it is following a right course, it is negating the utility of the elected houses and courts.
The protests could have been justified to ‘some extent’ if they had been held for the above-mentioned problems being faced by people. But regrettably, the PTI leaders and supporters have not been able to find time for the purpose. Also, the PTI leaders are forgetting that many people see Imran Khan as alternative leader to both the PML-N and the PPP and want him to do what the two parties have failed to do. Alleged rigging on a single provincial seat cannot be converted into a national issue, no matter how much efforts are made for the purpose.
This, however, doesn’t mean that the writer is underestimating the capabilities of the Punjab PTI president and the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, both of whom have the expertise to hold protest rallies for or against any issue.
The PTI should bear in mind that it is in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – a province which is facing myriad problems. In many people’s opinion the performance of the provincial government is far from satisfactory. The recent Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak provides a justification to its opponents to start a protest campaign and highlight the failures of the novice PTI leadership. But such a plan by opposition parties will destabilise the KP government, which will be in nobody’s interest. It is appreciable that although various leaders issued statements about the subject, they did not hold the kind of protests the PTI is holding on the rigging issue.
Prudence demands that the PTI should call off the protest, take the rigging allegation to the relevant forum and focus its attention on solving problems of the KP people who had voted it to power.
It should also spare time to think why the people had supported Imran Khan’s opponents in the by-elections on two NA seats vacated by him. Voters’ disenchantment within three, four months should be a matter of serious concern for the party leadership.
It will also be better for the PTI to send its people to flood-affected areas to help the displaced. The National Disaster Management Authority says some 1.5 million have been affected by the floods – and more are likely to be hit by rains in the weeks ahead as the season is not over yet. This will be the right way of utilising the time, energy and money of those who are in favour of continuing with the protests on what is not a very big issue.