Friday, November 9, 2018

Business Recorder Editorial Nov 9, 2018

Tackling profound challenge

The government’s handling of the Tehreek-e-Labaiq Pakistan’s (TLP’s) protests against the acquittal by the Supreme Court of Aasia Bibi has come in for stick across a wide range of opinion. This critique echoed in the National Assembly on November 5, 2018 when opposition PPP member Shazia Marri compared the agreement between the government and the TLP to the surrender at the then Dacca in 1971, linking Prime Minister Imran Khan’s surname with that of General Niazi. This infuriated some PTI members, who kicked up a rumpus that was joined by other PPP members. Soon a verbal abuse match between two PPP and PTI members descended into a near brawl. Since the party leaderships seemed unable to control their members inclined towards fisticuffs to make their case, and instructions to security staff to expel the most recalcitrant members proved difficult, the Speaker adjourned the session for the day. Reports on the following day indicated the Speaker had brokered a resolution in his chambers with the help of government and opposition leaders. So far so good. But the fracas has thrown into relief once again just how short-lived the convergence between the government and opposition on the challenge thrown up by the extremists of the TLP and others to the state’s writ was. At the first opportunity to discuss the issue on the floor of the house, if not earlier in the public space, the two sides fell out and into their well known traditional trenches. The seriousness of the crisis, where the whole country was held hostage to the threats and violence of some few thousand extremists on the roads and highways, did not seem to concern the divided political class. This was a moment to rise above petty political rivalries, cooperate against the challenge to the state’s writ (including insults and threats to institutions such as the judiciary and military), and show the people of this country and the world that our leaders across the board were responsible, wise hands on the tiller, who would help us navigate these choppy waters to safe shores. Instead, the worst side of the political class was on display, albeit the troublemakers were few but the leaderships seemed helpless to knock some sense into them.
Meanwhile the arrests of some 1,800 miscreants responsible for violence, intimidation and destruction of public and private property is part of the government’s ongoing ‘partial’ response to the mayhem unleashed by these extremists. What is conspicuous by its absence is action according to the law against the leaders who instigated the whole episode and whose attempts to distance themselves from those of their followers who carried out their hate agenda to the letter hold little if any water. But to get there, and get there we must if the state is to be rescued from the laughing stock it became because of the three days on which the purveyors of extremism and hate unleashed their violent activities, the government needs reassurance that it will not have to keep looking over its shoulder at the sniping by the opposition attempting to take advantage of the controversial handling of the episode to embarrass the government further. Cooler heads and vision is required on all sides, provocative statements against each other should be avoided, and a concerted effort made by both sides of the political divide to show solidarity against the disruptionists and challengers of the state’s writ. We can only hope that better sense will prevail all round and the political class as a whole will come together to tackle the crisis unitedly. This is even more important since the controversial deal signed between the government and the TLP may unravel if the arrests of its activists (even without the leaders) continue. While the TLP is not above using violence to attain its agenda, it may find support from mainstream religious forces such as the MMA, reportedly girding its loins for its campaign of protest against Aasia’s acquittal.

Another aspect of the whole sorry aftermath of the apex court’s correct and courageous decision according to the law of the land is the ‘forced’ exile of Aasia’s lawyer Saif ul Mulook. Spirited away according to him to The Netherlands by the UN and EU against his will, his spirit in protesting being in safety while his client has yet to leave the prison walls can be admired while suggesting to him that perhaps what was done to him was in his best interests and to prevent another tragedy at the hands of the fanatics. Now all that remains in the tense, fraught climate gripping the country is the release in safety of Aasia Bibi.

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