The container politics

Protest season is here, with the main focus on the religiopolitical JUI-F

The container is ready — yet again; preparations are in full swing, and the game is to resume shortly. Players on the two sides are the same, but their roles have reversed. Those on the attack then, are to defend now — and vice versa. Both sides, however, mean to save democracy — one by marching against an “illegitimate government” and the other by defending an “assault on the people’s mandate”. Our political history is replete, in fact, littered, with such games — games that are played in the name of democracy and in the ‘interest’ of the nation. Political calm is needed for the rulers to focus on issues of core concern for the country and for the people like the economy, global diplomacy and internal and external security. But with the local political scene dominated by protest marches, rallies, sit-ins and lockdowns, the much-needed political calm has eluded the country during much of its existence.

The protest season is here again. The focus of all attention this time is a religiopolitical party, the Jamiat-e-Ulema-Fazl (JUI-F), which is not a mainstream party like the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP). But the party — led by Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman who has been a part of all parliaments, but the current one, over the last three decades — boasts quite a lot of support in northwestern parts of the country that form Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, and, therefore, has the potential to put up a good street show and make life difficult for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government. The party plans to launch its anti-government movement on October 27 and is confident of sending the “illegitimate and incompetent” government packing with the support of businessmen, lawyers and doctors among the “hard-pressed” masses. The party chief believes the build-up of the movement will make it difficult for other political forces to stay away.

As if moving in a circle, we have come to a stage we had crossed triumphantly only recently. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2019.

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