The PTI’s long march came to a rather tame end, or pause, as Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday late night gave the government an ultimatum to announce elections within six days or have the “entire nation” return to the capital. One wonders whether we could have avoided the scenes of chaos that played out in the streets yesterday in several parts of the country. Nonetheless, some semblance of normalcy returned to Islamabad following this announcement and the hope is that such confrontations between the two sides can be avoided in the future.
The sheer disregard for law and order and the disproportionate and unnecessary use of force on display was extremely unfortunate and concerning. Given the increasing polarisation and how charged people seem to be, the leadership of the government and the opposition will have to seriously introspect on how to move forward.
As per reports, protestors in Islamabad severely damaged property in the Blue Area, setting fire to trees, vehicles and telephone wires. At the same time, there were disturbing videos circulating of police firing teargas and baton-charging protestors as it attempted to stop them from reaching the capital. There is no denying that the government should have dealt with the situation in a much more composed and mature fashion. The violent attempts at thwarting the march only added more fuel to the fire and accomplished nothing else.
Both the opposition and the government also failed to follow the Supreme Court’s orders which further illustrates how charged things are at this point in time. Sanity must prevail as we cannot afford to have a repeat of this six days from now.
The country cannot be held hostage for the egos of a handful of leaders, especially considering the economic crisis the country is facing. The forecasts are extremely dire on the economic front and concerns continue to mount as the latest talks with the IMF ended without any progress. This trend of agitational street politics is not sustainable and the only way forward to resolve these political disputes is negotiations between the two sides.
The sheer disregard for law and order and the disproportionate and unnecessary use of force on display was extremely unfortunate and concerning. Given the increasing polarisation and how charged people seem to be, the leadership of the government and the opposition will have to seriously introspect on how to move forward.
As per reports, protestors in Islamabad severely damaged property in the Blue Area, setting fire to trees, vehicles and telephone wires. At the same time, there were disturbing videos circulating of police firing teargas and baton-charging protestors as it attempted to stop them from reaching the capital. There is no denying that the government should have dealt with the situation in a much more composed and mature fashion. The violent attempts at thwarting the march only added more fuel to the fire and accomplished nothing else.
Both the opposition and the government also failed to follow the Supreme Court’s orders which further illustrates how charged things are at this point in time. Sanity must prevail as we cannot afford to have a repeat of this six days from now.
The country cannot be held hostage for the egos of a handful of leaders, especially considering the economic crisis the country is facing. The forecasts are extremely dire on the economic front and concerns continue to mount as the latest talks with the IMF ended without any progress. This trend of agitational street politics is not sustainable and the only way forward to resolve these political disputes is negotiations between the two sides.
