‘Charter of Pakistan’

Instead of hitting the streets in protest it’s better for the opposition to adopt the mode of negotiations

Every few years, we see opposition parties forging an alliance meant to “bring democracy back in the country”. It started off with MRD, the Movement for Restoration of Democracy, in February 1981, during the Zia regime. Then came ARD, the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, in December 2000 — a little more than a year after the country’s takeover by General Pervez Musharraf. Seven years on, in July 2007 to be exact, the anti-Musharraf political parties joined forces to form an All-Pakistan Democratic Movement, or APDM. Interesting the bitter rivals of today, Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif, were both part of the APDM.

And now we have PDM, the Pakistan Democratic Movement, even though there is no dictatorship in the country — unlike in the case of all such past alliances that were meant to send the dictator packing — to provide justification for opposition parties to embark on a movement to topple the government. But the leaders of the PDM, an 11-party alliance, say they want to rid the people of Pakistan of an “incompetent” government and bring “real” democracy in the country. The anti-government alliance — led by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and having PML-N and PPP in its fold — has already had a few public gatherings and plans to hold a few more before marching on the capital city and stage a sit-in there until Prime Minister Imran Khan tenders his resignation.

Last Tuesday, the PDM unveiled a ‘Charter of Pakistan’ that lists 12 goals the alliance believes should be pursued if Pakistan is to become a truly democratic country. While none of the 12 points of the charter can be argued against, how the PDM plans to go about pursuing them is where the criticism comes in. Instead of hitting the streets in protest — especially amid the coronavirus pandemic — to trigger political chaos, thereby affecting the economy, it’s better for the opposition to adopt the mode of negotiations. After all, how long will politics in our country keep moving in circles?

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2020.

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