Realities behind the Pakistani Revolution, Zulfiqar Shah
Islamabad drama would sooner or later reach climax or the anti-climax.
The script writer of the sit-in drama probably has been changing the script
according to the tide. Despite going into reasons, dynamics and frictions
behind this live theatre of the political jockeys, if not jokers, let us see
briefly who has apparently been benefited out of the drama within Pakistan and
who has been saying and doing what.
Rent a revolution
The protest sit-ins that were led by Imran Khan's Pakistan
Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and cleric Tahirula Qadari's Pakistan Awami Tahreek (PAT)
used the radical slogans of 'Azadi' (Freedom) and 'Inqalab' (Revolution).
Contrary to the fancy slogans, the apparent demands of the sit-ins were to
undertake investigations in the 2013 election frauds and the resignation of the
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
At the earlier stage, it was seen that both Qadri (left of the right)
and Khan (right of the centre) are separate entities but later on it was proved
that both have staged sit-ins through 'coordinated efforts'. Those who rebelled
with PTI later on said that Pakistan Army was behind the scene. Some even
mentioned the names of ISI head General Zaheerul Islam, MI's Brigadier Ejaz and
four other generals from the Pakistan Army. It also popped up in the news that
both of the protesting leaders much earlier met in London for rehearsal of the
drama.
Harvest of another kind
As soon as the preparations of Islamabad sit-ins began in July, Pakistan
Army and its associated agencies started military operation in Sindh and
Balochistan. Over 100 Sindhi and Baloch nationalists were killed in the fake
encounters, military operation, throwing out the dead bodies of earlier
abducted Sindhi and Baloch, as well as military backed targeted killings of
Sindhi and Baloch in Karachi apparently by the non-state actors.
This also includes the mysterious discovery of dead bodies of the
persons whose identities still remains unknown. Simultaneously, hundreds of the
Sindhi and Baloch political activists and dissenters were either arrested in
fake cases or involuntarily disappeared. Sindh Government said that Pakistan
Rangers is killing Sindhi and Baloch in the fake encounters.
What else?
·
Pakistani Tribunal on the mass graves found earlier this year in
Balochistan gave clean chit to Pakistan Army in their alleged involvement
massacres.
·
Sindhi nationalists, who earlier planned and later on announced the
movement against armed forces' occupation of over one hundred thousand acres
land in Karachi, postponed the movement due to dominance of Islamabad scene
locally and internationally. The land is to be used for developing townships to
settle down non-Sindhis in Karachi from Punjab and elsewhere from Pakistan as
well as from outside Pakistan in a bid to convert Sindhis in the numerical
minority in Sindh particularly in their capital city. Save Sindh Committee, an
alliance of Sindhi nationalists, however has announced to launch a massive
movement once Islamabad drama is over.
·
Pakistan Rangers, a second tier armed force under the military, saved
their officials who were involved in killing Sarfaraz, an innocent citizen, in
Karachi. One of the culprits was given death sentence and others were put in
the jails for almost life-long. Pakistan Rangers succeeded in taking undue
relief from the superior judiciary. The death sentence of the main culprit was
converted into the life imprisonment; meanwhile the punishment of his other
aids was reduced to a few years imprisonment.
·
Sindh Government was made agreed to recruit 1000 retired army officers
in Sindh Police.
·
Many a land grab incident by Pakistan Army were under-reported during
the period.
·
It was for the first time in sixty-seven years history of Pakistan that
Sindh extra-ordinarily observed protests on the 14 August against Pakistan.
Almost all cities and towns were carrying either black flags or the flags of
Sindh Freedom political parties. Some of the pro-Pakistan rallies that were
organized; however, by the settler non-Sindhis. It also happened for the first
time in Pakistan's history that Pakistani armed forces hoisted Pakistani flags
in Sindh after cordoning off the settlements of the locals. They also
dismounted the black as well as secessionist parties' flags from the various
places.
All this went extremely under-reported due to these Islamabad sit-ins,
which otherwise surely bound to gain Pakistan wide and international attention.
Hidden strings and intentions
Pakistani newspapers of August 2014 tell too much. They also pointed to
many hidden agendas, demands and intentions of the protest sit-ins:
·
Safe exit of General Pervez Musharaf from Pakistan. Musharaf himself
gave statements that army should coupe and he also expressed that in the given
scenario he would not leave the country. He was hinting for a couple and his
rise again to the presidential post if softer coupe becomes successful.
·
ISI head and four senior Generals of Pakistan Army are retiring in
September and October. Extension in their services or the promotion of those
who are associated with their ethnic and sectarian lobbies in the army.
·
Revival of Local Government system in Sindh against which people of
Sindh revolted in 2012 and hence the system was successfully reversed according
to the will of people.
Unanswered Questions
·
Allegation of 2013 general election rigging by the political parties and
media analysts are on the record in the print, electronic and social media. If one reviews these
resources, Pakistan People's Party (PPP)'s seats were claimed to be rigged from
Siraki South Punjab and Karachi city. PPP was bound to
sweep from there due to PPP government's serious steps for carving out a
Siraiki province from Punjab. Unexpectedly to the general feel and folk
political wisdom, PTI remained beneficial most from there.
ANP won no seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa (KP), which is almost
unbelievable especially in the context of PTI's sweep from the province where
it had almost no roots. The overall number of participants of Imran Khan's
sit-in talk volumes and the number of Pashtun protesters makes things clearer.
Both PPP and ANP are against sit-ins and favor continuity of the government and
the parliament. Sindhi nationalists and Pakistan Muslim League - F alleged PPP
for elections rigging in some constituencies of Sindh but they are not in favor
of these shit-ins.
The moderate Baloch nationalist like Akhtar Mengal and his party, whose
defeat was unbelievable to all, also cried for election fraud in 2013; however
he is also not in favor of Islamabad sit-in. In fact, the voters turn-out in
Baloch areads of Balochistan during the elections held after 2000 have actually
remained below five percent. Imran Khan vociferously talked about election
rigging by Mutahida Qomi Movement (MQM) in Karachi against PTI candidates but
both seem to be in alliance concerning Islamabad sit-ins.
·
When Imran Khan moved from Peshawar, media reported that he is having
around 25000 activists and followers. When he reached Islamabad, the
participants according to media were 5000. If the both of the media reports are
true, then where these rest of 20000 persons went?
·
Media also reports that Tahirul-Qadri's protest is having lesser than
25000 persons. Real or the pseudo, a revolution is not the business of
25000 agitators, with no support among the masses. Whose support is this that
both military and judiciary have been showing their sympathy with the
protesters?
·
In fact, those whose allegations of elections fraud can largely be
considered genuine, are either against or silent over Islamabad sit-ins. And,
those who got maximum benefits from the election frauds are staging protest
sit-ins against rigging. Are they protesting against the lesser level of
election frauds against the promised one by the military establishment?
Self-contradictories
The wavering most statements regarding the Islamabad sit-ins were of the
MQM and the Punjabi led Pakistan civil society leaders. MQM Supremo Altaf
Hussain earlier moderately supported the sit-ins, later on demanded the
military rule in Pakistan and said that democracy is not in the interest of
Pakistan. Later on, he demanded that the civil actors should not resist amry's
path to takeover, and finally he also asked his party's parliamentarians to
submit the resignations. And, when he saw that the Islamabad sit-ins have lost
their expected impacts, he once again spoke in the favor of democracy.
The civil society of Pakistan also issued some statements. Led by Asima
Jehangir and Karamat Ali, the Pakistani civil society actors at earlier stage
were against the sit-ins. When they saw that army is making inroads, Asma
Jehangir, according to the newspapers said, that none should fear the third
force / third umpire. Hence, she went against the virtue of civil society as
such by hinting at mediation by the army.
When Islamabad police opened water cannons and rubber bullets on her
Punjabi brethrens and sisters involved in the attack on the Parliament, Prime
Minister House and Pakistan Television, she wept on a TV channels for the use
of violence against the protesters. Surprisingly, when protesters lost the
strength, both of the civil society leaders started talking again in the favor
of elected government.
The secessionist Sindhi and Baloch nationalists termed the protest
series to further colonize Sindh and Balochistan in very modern way through the
use of engineering of baseless socio-political movement; however while saying
this they also opined that they had no interests in such kind of dramas since
both the elected governments and military rule have been occupying their
motherlands and exploiting their resources. They also said that they will not
inch back on their demand for the freedom of Sindh and Balochistan. The
believers of provincial autonomy in Sindh and Balochistan also said that such
drama are aimed to further intensify the oppression of Sindhi and Baloch;
however they were of the opinion that Sindhi and Baloch would not support
military government.
Still unknown
What hitherto is hidden, apart from the above, the other aspects of real
agenda behind the Islamabad sit-ins? The drop scene would make it further
clearer very soon.
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