The government and the PDM are in no mood to sit down and talk. Well, their stated positions indicate so. The Prime Minister sounds confident that no amount of agitation can unsettle his position, let alone dislodge him from power. Maryam Nawaz, on the other hand, is braced for ‘aar ya paar’ i.e. ‘do or die’ — a line of action that Fazlur Rehman had decided pretty earlier. Free from the coronavirus, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has also got back in the midst of all action, though he is still not sure about the cost and benefit of resigning from the assemblies en masse.
All eyes, meanwhile, are on Lahore which will host the last of six public gatherings meant to muster support against the government in lead-up to a ‘long march’ to the federal capital designed to remove the PM. While Maryam is out to moblise the public ahead of the Lahore rally on December 13, the government is doing all what falls within its administrative domain to stop the opposition from managing a big show at Minar-e-Pakistan. Additional police force has been called to the city; participants of a PML-N bike rally have been booked; and shipping containers are being moved to block roads within the city and seal its entry points.
Lahore’s response may, however, cause the two sides to rearrange their positions. If the PDM is able to draw a sizeable crowd at the December 13 gathering, it is likely to compel the government to engage them in a dialogue – at least through backchannels. An ordinary turnout on the other hand may give confidence to the government to pursue its strategy of applying administrative hindrances with even greater force — and this may well lead to some serious confrontation.
While a dialogue does not seem to be an immediate possibility — at least until the long march — a negotiated settlement of issues is what’s advisable for the continuation of the political system in the best interest of the country and the nation. Remember, in the realms of politics, compromise is synonymous with progress. It is the give-and-take that carves out the way forward.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2020.
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