Countrywide crackdown on PTI supporters has cast the dye for an imminent confrontation. Reports say dozens were rounded up from across Punjab and the federal capital, which upped the ante a day before the ‘Azadi March’ is set to march on Islamabad. Incidents of midnight knocks and scaling of walls were also widely reported in media that have fomented a bad taste of vengeance against political opponents. Former PM Imran Khan, in an unrelenting tone, called on his supporters to brave the adversities as that pertains to a ‘national cause’. Likewise, the ruling coalition was categorical and in a rejoinder resolved to thwart the march.
The government has called in extra security personnel, as well as reserve gear and ammunition, especially tear gas cells, to deal with any eventuality. These preemptive acts, however, are being contested and challenged in the court of law. A directive from the Islamabad High Court reprimanded the local administration to desist from harassing political activists. A similar prayer to pave the way for a peaceful rally has been submitted with the apex court at a time when turmoil seems round the corner. The situation is quite unnerving as the administrative clamp is in full swing, and Section 144 has been imposed for a period of two months. Those arrested are being sent to jail under MPO-16 to foil the long march. Witch-hunting of PTI top brass is there too and countless wizards face a tough night of surveillance. The raid on Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal’s residence and other high-profile sympathisers is quite chilling, and reflects the sense of bizarreness. One such raid led to the killing of a policeman apparently in a shot fired in self-defence.
A grave challenge awaits the writ of the rule of law as hundreds and thousands are expected to march on the capital from K-P. Similar rallies from Punjab will be culminating at Srinagar Highway as Rawalpindi-Islamabad already stand paralysed. Apart from this street jingoism, what is awaited with fingers crossed is the decision from the IMF in Qatar, where economic gurus are huddling to seek a new tranche of succor. If that comes our way, it will be no less than a lifeline to a beleaguered government, enabling it to assert itself on the deeply divisive political mosaic.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2022.
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