Caretakers’ crackdown

The crackdown on PML-N workers on the day the Sharifs returned from London to surrender is questionable

It may well be a taste of its own medicine, but the crackdown on PML-N workers on the day Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz returned from London to surrender is questionable, given that the right to assemble or protest is guaranteed under the Constitution. That is where out caretakers proved they are no different from their elected counterparts. Hundreds of activists and leaders of the former ruling party were detained and thousands booked in cases, also carrying clauses related to terrorism. While there are conflicting claims over the figures, the chief of police in Punjab himself puts the number of those booked at a massive 17,606, including 270 arrested.

And the ‘hooligans’ named in a total of 130 FIRs include prominent leaders like former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq, PML-N president and former Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif, party chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Javed Hashmi, and former federal and provincial ministers Rana Sanaullah, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Talal Chaudhry and Saira Afzal Tarar and MNAs Hamza Shehbaz, Bilal Yasin and Uzma Bukhari. Besides, more than 450 local level leaders and workers were detained on the pretext of maintaining public order, before the rally meant to welcome the deposed PM and her daughter.

The caretakers helped the PML-N create a whole lot of scene, which speaks of their administrative incapability. Containerising the whole of Lahore and blocking all points of entry into the city rather galvanised the workers of a party which is thought to have no history of hitting the streets in protest, unlike their politically-aggressive opponents — the PPP and the PTI. While the PML-N has decided to capitalise on the power show they managed to put up on the reception day by not securing pre-arrest bails or getting the cases quashed, the caretakers need to act prudently so as to avoid the situation from snowballing. Arresting all those named in the FIRs, as being suggested in some media reports, may prove counter-productive.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2018.

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