Maulana’s ‘Azadi March’
After months of dithering on the issue of Jamiat-e-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s ‘Azadi (Freedom) March’ on Islamabad by the two main opposition parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and the redoubtable Maulana’s urging them to join it, a flurry of activity and contacts between the JUI-F and all the opposition parties in recent days point to an emerging convergence of the opposition against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government. With literally days to go for the planned march and dharna(sit-in) in Islamabad on October 31, the JUI-F has actively increased its contacts with all the opposition parties to garner support for the march and strengthen its hand. Apart from the PML-N and the PPP, the emerging opposition ‘alliance’ now includes the Awami National Party, with its president Asfandyar Wali Khan having accepted the role of ‘substitute’ leader of the agitation in case the JUI-F leadership is arrested; the National Party led by Hasil Bizenjo, and even the JUI-F’s rival religious party the Jamaat-i-Islami making sympathetic noises. As for the PML-N and PPP, the former’s internal divisions regarding participation in the march seem to have finally been overcome by incarcerated leader Nawaz Sharif’s letter the other day instructing the party to join in, while the latter’s reservations about the use of the ‘religious card’ by Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the PPP’s complaint of the JUI-F ‘supporting’ the PTI in the recent by-election in Larkana seem to have been papered over. The JUI-F’s core committee met in Islamabad on October 15 to finalise the strategy for the march/dharna in the light of the party’s discussions with the other opposition parties. Hasil Bizenjo after meeting the Maulana and pledging his party’s support explained that the opposition agreed to go into the Assemblies on the urging of the PML-N and PPP despite the rigging charges surrounding the 2018 elections that brought the PTI to power. Time, however, he added, had proved that the ‘elected’ government was fake, enjoyed no public mandate, and non-elected people were ruling the country. The Maulana reiterated that all the opposition parties were agreed that the 2018 elections were rigged, the government was not a legitimately elected government, and fresh elections should be called.
An intriguing note during all these developments was added by Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid when he hinted that ‘those whose language is understood’ were in contact with Maulana Fazlur Rehman and he would soon be presented a face-saving way out of his predicament of trying to wriggle out of an embarrassing situation he had landed himself in. The Maulana refuted this reference to alleged establishment contacts by pointing out that the ‘agencies’ were pressurising and threatening lower level leaders of the JUI-F not to participate in the march. He said these tactics would not work, nor could talks with the government be possible until Prime Minister Imran Khan resigns and early elections are announced. Whatever the value of this exchange between the minister and the Maulana, it would be instructive to examine how a seemingly reluctant and divided opposition has been able to move closer together. Both the PML-N and PPP, with big stakes in the continuity of the democratic system, were initially disinclined to mount any agitation despite their complaints about the flawed 2018 elections. However, unrelenting pressure on their respective leaderships over corruption charges during the last one year, and the incremental jailing of many of their prominent leaders, has finally persuaded them of what is perceived as the writing on the wall. Amidst accusations of the National Accountability Bureau carrying out a witch-hunt against the opposition, it is circumstances that have compelled both the PML-N and PPP to set aside their reservations and commit more or less fully to the Maulana’s plans. Now that the die seems all but cast, it is in the fitness of things to remind both sides of the yawning political divide that peaceful protest is the right of any party in a democracy. The JUI-F’s danda-bardar(baton-wielding) force however has raised hackles in the government circles as well as amongst objective observers about what this may portend. If the government tries to use force to prevent the marchers reaching Islamabad, this could potentially lead to violent clashes, which in the end would not help the opposition’s case. On the other hand a peaceful protest and calls to decide the conundrum through a fresh appeal to the electorate via the ballot box would serve all sides well, not to mention democracy and the country.
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