Islamabad, Pakistan: Imran Khan promised to storm Islamabad with a bang. On Monday, however, uncertainty surrounded the future prospects for Pakistan’s cricket star-turned-politician after his party decided to resign all its seats in the country’s national assembly, amid a bitter row with the government over alleged election rigging.
Khan had declared a ‘civil disobedience’ movement just the previous night. Khan’s move has been widely seen in Pakistan as nothing more than a significant climbdown in a protest whose ultimate aim was to oust prime minister Nawaz Sharif from power.
Meanwhile, the other player on the block is Tahirul Qadri, an Islamic scholar turned politician, who is seeking to lead Pakistan towards a revolutionary change that will pave the way for future political representation for members from the middle income and low income groups.
For the moment, both Khan and Qadri may have overplayed their hand. Though Sharif’s ability to sustain himself may be increasingly in question, his opponents may not be in position to oust him any time in the immediate future. The question then is, what lies ahead for the future of Pakistan’s increasingly uncertain politics.
Sharif’s decision to order an unprecedented security crackdown led by the deployment of hundreds of cargo containers to block the main roads, has clearly appeared to be driven by heightened nervousness driven by an overkill.
The way to the future will likely be settled in the parliament where key leaders of Pakistan’s opposition parties were hectically consulting each other on Monday to find an end to the crisis.
“Saving the system” appeared to be the buzz word among politicians including many who still remember days of military rule in Pakistan.
Though the present crisis is unlikely to provoke a return to Pakistan’s undemocratic past, events in Islamabad have certainly provoked warnings of a weakening of Pakistan’s democratic order. This is all the more a likely writing on the wall at a time when Sharif’s supporters have strongly defied calls from Khan and Qadri for his resignation.
“The political system in its present form must survive” said Khawaja Izhar ul Hasan, a politician representing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) political party in the southern port city of Karachi. He hastened to add that “any legitimate demands of the protesters must be considered”.
Khan and Qadri may not succeed in bringing about a sea change in Pakistan’s politics just yet. But they have certainly caused a noticeable dent in the ruling structure, whose effects are likely to stay with Sharif even if the protests eventually die down.
Going forward, protests by Khan and Qadri may not necessarily achieve what they came looking for. But its equally true that they may still be unwilling to return empty-handed. Sharif, though elected just a year ago on the back of a comfortable majority for his Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N), has been driven to partial political wilderness at a time when the mood on the streets hardly favours his regime.
Though mass protests across Pakistan are yet to be triggered, the ongoing political drama in Islamabad clearly points towards a beleaguered ruling structure. With or without Khan’s civil disobedience call making a difference, the noise from Islamabad in the past few days will continue to resonate in times to come.
— Farhan Bokhari is a Pakistan-based commentator who writes on political and economic matters.
