After days of lengthy negotiations to try and move beyond the deadlock, the arrest of roughly 100 workers from both PTI and PAT will make matters worse. They will still demand the resignation of Nawaz Sharif, and blame the government for overusing coercion to get its way. Chaudhary Nisar has said that the police was merely following the orders of the government after 20 suspects from attacks on policemen and PTV were identified using video footage. But if that is true, then why were over 100 people arrested? The law must be followed, and those involved in the bouts of violence should pay the price of their crime, but the government must get its priorities straight. The government must decide what it wants to do and then stop dilly-dallying. If negotiations are not how they want to proceed, then arresting 100 people is only going to flare tempers, nothing more.
Tahir-ul-Qadri has issued an open challenge to the government to try and arrest him or Imran Khan, and claims that this will result in a quick end to the stalemate as well as their rule. He continued his show by calling ex-army officers to the stage and using them as mascots to allude to backing from the establishment. Imran Khan has called the arrest of his workers undemocratic, and has stepped back from the negotiation process, saying he can no longer trust the judiciary either. With the talks all but over, the entire situation is back to square one. The workers of both parties are riled up, and other incidents of violence might just be on the cards. Meanwhile sidekick parties such as the PMLQ have displayed their distaste for the democratic system once more. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain asked the army to step in and mediate the crisis, again. He claims that this is their duty, and not unconstitutional, his words expose his party’s need for support from a higher power.
The talks were barely inching forward even without the arrests and PTI and PAT would not have relented anyway. This gives them an excuse to back out and blame the government for the failure. But now, even if Nisar has specifically said that the actions of the government were not determined by the protests but the damage caused to both life and property, the protesters will make sure that the arrests are viewed as nothing but.