Pakistan recently faced a political crisis when PTI's supporters rallied against the Nawaz government, calling for fair elections. The reason this was a political crisis was the inability of the government to negotiate.
The Azadi March was led by Imran Khan from August to December in cities like Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad against the electoral rigging of 2013, joined by Tahir ul Qadri and his supporters. The government was adamant in holding office and failed to develop a careful strategy in order to conduct a peaceful dialogue with the opposition, successfully. Instead, coersion was used when harm to government buildings was feared. The police officers not only used tear gas and rubber bullets on the protesters, but also, used force against media personnel who were covering the protests in addition to arresting PAT and PTI workers. Moreover, army was deployed in islamabad after invoking article245 to protect the city in the name of operation zarb-e-azab , hence, the power of army was reinforced similar to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's era, once again politicizing it.
If the unfortunate event of 16th December had not occurred and Imran Khan had not called off the protests, what would the future of Pakistan's democracy be ? Was it possible for the army to gain control of the situation? It raises several question in our minds especially regarding the efficiency of our political system where diplomacy and dialogues fail and force is resorted to.
The Azadi March was led by Imran Khan from August to December in cities like Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad against the electoral rigging of 2013, joined by Tahir ul Qadri and his supporters. The government was adamant in holding office and failed to develop a careful strategy in order to conduct a peaceful dialogue with the opposition, successfully. Instead, coersion was used when harm to government buildings was feared. The police officers not only used tear gas and rubber bullets on the protesters, but also, used force against media personnel who were covering the protests in addition to arresting PAT and PTI workers. Moreover, army was deployed in islamabad after invoking article245 to protect the city in the name of operation zarb-e-azab , hence, the power of army was reinforced similar to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's era, once again politicizing it.
If the unfortunate event of 16th December had not occurred and Imran Khan had not called off the protests, what would the future of Pakistan's democracy be ? Was it possible for the army to gain control of the situation? It raises several question in our minds especially regarding the efficiency of our political system where diplomacy and dialogues fail and force is resorted to.
1 comment:
In my opinion, the army had a great chance to take over the country once the demonstrations had started but it didn't,which shows that the current Chief of Army Staff is not interested in becoming a dictator.As far as Imran Khan is concerned, what he was trying to do was merely an immature act of politics which clearly illustrates that he still requires a lot of grooming in the field of politics.
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