Many experts are articulating the view that in the coming 24 and 48 hours, the situations are likely to deteriorate. The extremist stance of Imran Khan and Dr Tahir ul Qadri and their demands from Nawaz Sharif may lead to some lumbering problems. On one side the government has to play to the gallery and come down from its high pedestal and on the other the PTI and PAT must shed away some of their revolutionary schema points. A question arises here as to which are the agencies which want to disrupt the system and which benefit they would incur in this way? Well of course a clear cut answer may be those forces which do not want that stability should come in Pakistan. As a neutral observer I will dare agree with certain demands of Dr Tahir ul Qadri when he says that state institutions should not be under the Political persons but under state. The way he defined democracy in his speech yesterday sounded convincing. He said that democracy means good governance, transparency and signifies elimination of all kinds of corruption. It means protecting people’s mandate. It provides equal representation to all segments of people from different stratas of society. It ensures a crystal clear accountability and equality of law to everyone whether poor or powerful.
It means governance where the rulers take care of the basic rights of the people. It will lead to protecting the rights and up gradation of socio-economic life of people. It means the rule of law, elimination of injustice and exploitation. But the agenda he has given is much more ambitious and it was very much evident that he was and is not ready to accept any median way. He has so far proved to be an unseasoned politician or more of a spoiled child who craves for moon and then would go to any extent to oblige his wish. I find him very eccentric. He is a religious scholar and our religion teaches us peace and encourages us to look for some middle way which is acceptable to all segments of society. Look at the incidence of Muslim holy relict, Black Stone (Hajar e Aswad) when our beloved Holy Prophet (Peace of Allah be Upon him) fixed it in the southeast wall of Kaaba. This is a preaching of our religion that we must not be obdurate and avoid confrontation.
Every sane person is now uttering the view that some solution should be sought which is acceptable to both. Negotiations should be and immediately carried out. Asfand Yar Wali even went to the extent of saying that if democracy is derailed then both Dr Tahir ul Qadri and Imran Khan would be responsible for that. True the crowd power both the parties have displayed has indeed coerced the government to take them seriously. Both can strike a good bargain now. But these two worthy leaders must remember all the time that many people are now taking them to be a messiah who would rectify all the ills of the system and pay heed to do away with the corruption. One wonders why not they use this charisma to think for communal good. Both parties must bring some flexibility in their stance for collective welfare of the country. Timely decisions have to be taken.
Normally it is an impression that MQM and other parties know the temperaments of the people. But all of them think that whether it is internal or external the government must go for supporting positive demands about the electoral reform. Some experts were saying that JUI could have held much bigger shows than this as they also carry a huge mass support but things don’t work in isolation. They were firm on one point that the government would have to show maturity and cooperation with others. A politician said that if a prime Minister from Sindh is elected then he tends to be vulnerable and concedes to the demands of others more often but if the one is elected from Punjab then he is normally very strict and does not listen to all demands. Then the result is that problems are created. The present government representatives can give this a second thought that why now many PPP supporters are raising the view that during their previous tenure long marches were held which were dealt peacefully and tactfully , but why the sitting government is unable to reach some consensus? A very simple reply would be a few words, mishandling the affairs, miscalculating the people support with these two leaders and mismanagement along with an inordinate delay to accept the demand of recount in four constituencies.
Apart from all these there is one other big reason, the political advisors to the government also were faltering to force the administration act timely. One very sad situation was witnessed during the recent sit in of Pakistan Awami Tehreek in Lahore when police was slightly pushed to obey the orders. Just remembering the May 2014 events and trying to avoid getting into turbulent waters again made them remain least attentive to the orders of high command. The whole nation watched this distressing episode live and which impression it must have evoked is not difficult to determine. I was even afraid that God forbids if we go on fighting among ourselves, it may lead to disastrous consequences. We have to take extreme care in such conditions. The real foresight is required on the part of the government now. It must give a serious thought to go for sound electoral reforms to avert any further crisis. The four point formula presented by Ameer JI, Siraj ul Haq can give some basis on which some middle way can be sought out. Objective realities must be accepted and some solution has to be sought peacefully averting any unseemly situation. I would request all the political leaders to move ahead and work as mediators frittering away all selfish interests and grudges.