Crackdown against doctors: Horror of Model Town keeps govt away from clear-out

Officials say administration is reluctant to use force against protesters

LAHORE: With a few dozen doctors holding the entire city of Lahore hostage for the past four days, citizens have been questioning the role of government in handling the situation. But officials monitoring the situation say the fear of repeating a Model Town-like tragedy is preventing the government from a crackdown.

Besides shutting down emergency, indoor and outdoor departments at major government hospitals, the protesting doctors have blocked the Mall Road, crippling the traffic system and disrupting routine life.

Officials say the administration is not taking any action against the protesting doctors fearing a similar clash like the fateful night of June 17, 2014.

The Model Town clash between political protesters and Lahore police had left 14 people dead when the police launched an operation to remove barriers from the road leading to the residence of PAT founder Tahirul Qadri. The carnage catapulted Qadri’s importance in politics when, otherwise, he posed little threat to the government.

Similar concerns have arisen in the wake of the ongoing sit-in of junior doctors in front of the Chief Minister Secretariat. At least two lives have been lost due to the mess created by a faction of the Young Doctors Association (YDA).

Despite the situation, police have not taken any worthwhile action because the government has given clear instructions not to use force against the protesters, an official said, adding removing the doctors, otherwise, was 30-minute job for police.

Vehicles stuck in traffic jam owing to doctors’ protest. PHOTO: EXPRESS

Boasting about the police capability to handle mobs, the officer cited the recent example of Imran Khan’s ‘flop show’ in Islamabad. “A mainstream party with a track record of pulling out crowds in hundreds of thousands was prevented from disturbing the law and order situation across the province, especially Lahore where the party had a huge number of activists and workers,” he added.

Another officer said the government, after the Model Town tragedy, gave an unwritten code not to use force against protesters.

This is evident from the frequent protests on the Mall in violation of the Lahore High Court orders since June 2014 whether by Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or religious groups supporting Mumtaz Qadri or by doctors, nurses, lady health workers, teachers, lawyers, clerks, farmers, traders, milkmen, property dealers and even specially-abled people.

Internal resentment

Another factor, officials say, is the resentment among lower-cadre policemen, who allege they are made scapegoats by the government and senior officers and left alone to face the cases registered for the actions taken on their orders.

Other officers also shared the same concerns, saying the policemen alone were held responsible for the actions as the government always managed to save itself.

The sense of betrayal among the lower cadre officers was evident when they refused to move forward when a DIG-ranked officer ordered them to stop PAT workers last year in August.

Who’s responsible?

A senior officer of DIG rank claimed the protesters taking to the streets was the failure of other departments but the police were always held responsible. This notion was established after SSP Muhammad Nekorkara, who refused to use force against protesters in Islamabad, was suspended.

On the blockade of Mall Road by doctors, DIG Operations Dr Haider Ashraf said the government was negotiating with the protesting doctors. “We would act as per the directions of the government,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2016.