Failure of politics

PTI's sit-in ends in violence as government uses force, arrests 450; political issues remain unresolved.

PTI's sit-in at D-Chowk came to a tormenting end as the government responded with brute use of force. The operation was launched late on Tuesday night after plunging the entire area in darkness, alongside suspending internet services completely. Police and paramilitary forces moved in to disperse the protesters who were clueless as to where to go, resulting in stampede, scuffles and pitched battles, and subsequent arrest of more than 450 supporters. Teargas and bullets were also fired, as the constitutional right to protest was scuttled by the dispensation in power. Hospital sources in the federal capital have confirmed casualties. PTI stalwarts too failed to keep their word of staying put with the protesters through thick and thin, and were seen surfacing in serene pastures of K-P the other morning.

The outcome underlines that politics has failed. The coalition government unnecessarily went over the brink to make a point that it is intolerant to dissent. In doing so, it perhaps forgot the simple reality that the political process is all about protests, difference of opinion and the right to coexist under the nomenclature of the constitution. The PML-N leaders who vowed to avenge the PTI sit-in from the pulpit had put up a disgusting show for the sake of political expediency, and the PPP's distancing itself does not absolve it of the ramifications in line. With PTI workers seen abiding by the limits of the Red Zone, a crackdown was unacceptable. The government should have waited for them to grow tired and fatigued in the chills of Islamabad, forcing them to thin out in due course of time, and at the same time engaging the PTI leadership in meaningful talks. The Interior Minister and his cavalry, by resorting to excessive use of force, has set a wrong and unlawful precedent.

With a traumatised and leaderless PTI pledging to continue protest, the equation is back to square one. The government's brinkmanship has failed, as the issues on agenda still are: release of political prisoners and acceptance of the February 8 mandate. It's pitiful that we don't learn from history.