After the rally

The much-anticipated Lahore rally of the PDM failed to make a blast. The average turnout at Minar-e-Pakistan may be attributed, at least partly, to the extreme cold in the provincial capital of Punjab as well as the raging pandemic, but the speeches made by the opposition leaders too failed to cause any worries in the government ranks, let alone ringing any alarm bells. Void of any major decisions, the speeches were only a replay of the ones made at earlier PDM events, mostly riddled with allegations against the government and the establishment. There was no ‘aar ya paar’ type announcement at the Sunday rally, as was being claimed by Maryam Nawaz ahead of the event. The PDM leaders, as against expectations, failed to deliver a clear word on resignations from assemblies nor did they give a definitive timeline on a long march to the federal capital meant to topple the sitting government.

No wonder the government has found the room to come out even more confidently and clearly, with the PM calling the Lahore rally ‘pathetic’; lashing out at PDM leaders for displaying ‘utter callousness’ by ‘endangering’ the lives of the people amid the Covid-19 pandemic; and reiterating that he would not be ‘blackmailed’ into giving an NRO to ‘looters’ of the public money. Shaikh Rashid, the new interior minister, praised the ‘responsible’ behaviour of the people of Lahore that resulted in the ‘death’ of the PDM politics. He also invited the opposition members to ‘march to Islamabad’ to face the law, and tender their resignations ‘as quickly as possible’.

In an attempt to control the damage though, the PDM leaders have come up with some kind of a timeline after an emergency meeting held yesterday — a day after the Lahore rally. They have warned that if the government did not pack up by January 31, they would announce a march to Islamabad on the following day i.e. February 1. The PDM may well not be able to topple the government by their long march or a possible sit-in, but the 11-party alliance does have the numerical strength to add to the political chaos in the country — something that could be detrimental to an already struggling national economy. One would thus advise a dialogue to break the reigning political deadlock.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2020.

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