MUHAMMAD DILAWAR CH
LAHORE - After reaching at the edge of Red Zone in Islamabad, PTI chairman Imran Khan has announced to kick start civil disobedience movement against the government. He asked the people not to pay all taxes and bills, but, the PTI chief didn’t elaborate whether his party members, ministers and MPAs would continue receiving their salaries or not. Similarly, he didn’t elaborate whether the farmers and businessmen associated with his party would continue enjoying subsidies and other incentives or not.
The decision of not paying taxes would be a difficult one for the PTI as the party is running the government affairs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
As a matter of fact, Imran Khan could not bring as many people as were expected by the government and in media. Besides, the PTI sit-in could not win the expected momentum due to the repeated intervals and party chief’s visit to his Bani Gala residence.
On the other side, PAT chief Tahirul Qadri, who takes himself to be the king of emotions, unexpectedly used less emotional tone.
Most of the time, civil disobedience movement affects the state instead of any government, and examples in this connection could be quoted from the history when the British Rule was inactive in the Sub-continent and in East Pakistan to some extent.
In the light of these two examples, political parties could not get much through such movements. An evident example is in this regard are the failed movements in 90s. Civil disobedience movements are carried out against the state so that if you do not pay taxes, it would less damaged the government, affecting the state in large.
As far as Pakistan’s economy is concerned, the country cannot afford such movement. So, it is Imran’s responsibility to save Pakistani from being affected and resolve issues politically.
The flexibility, shown by Imran Khan by saying he doesn’t want anarchy, is the positive outcome which he expressed first time after the Azadi March. In his speech, Imran said he neither wanted to derail democracy by creating anarchy nor he is willing to invite any unconstitutional step. These are the steps the government and all other political parties were demanding from the PTI chief. By doing so, Imran has opted for dialogue pitch and the government should get benefit of the opportunity.
The attitude of ‘solo flight’ should be abandoned for good and more space should be given for political reconciliation, because democratic approach is must for democracy.
If the government fails to do so, the democracy would continue facing such crises and as a result of this, any situation could take birth which might go out of control.
The government should learn from these protesting marchers. The government has constituted its teams to initiate dialogues with the PTI and PAT leaderships, but the rulers should show seriousness in this regard and give clear and mandate and authority to the teams. The government should also get ready for sacrifice to some extent, because democracy will win if everyone wins.