The protests in Pakistan, led by the cleric Mohammad Tahir-ul-Qadri and politician Imran Khan in a bid to oust Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office, show no sign of abating after two months; they are merely undergoing a logistical change. Qadri has decided to employ his nuisance value in the cities of Karachi, Sialkot and Sargodha, while Imran has made a strategic shift to dig in further in Islamabad, while also protesting from Karachi, Multan and Lahore. It is apt to say that the initial intensity of the protests has died down. Khan and Qadri tried their best to unseat a democratically elected government by aiming to disrupt the administration’s ability to govern. In the end, all they obtained was criticism from the people and political circles, who decided to join ranks with Nawaz Sharif and opt for stability.
This illustrates the simplicity of the lesson that must be learnt. Pakistan’s government must be allowed to carry out its functions, even in the face of stern internal examinations from various quarters. The tents must be packed permanently from outside parliament in Islamabad. The decision to alter the frequency of the demonstrations was met positively by the stock market, which rose in response. There are other gains to be made as the government attempts to firefight and get the economy back on track and tackle the problems of internal security and the energy crisis. This cannot be achieved if progress is impeded by politicians who want to effect change through street demonstrations but have no concrete solutions on how to steady the ship.
The protests, which began in mid-August, have already scuppered a loan instalment from the International Monetary Fund, as well as an opportunity to gain from a $34 billion (Dh124.8 billion) basket of deals via a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping that was cancelled. The threat of intervention from the army also cannot be ruled out, given the frequent periods of instability. Result-oriented dialogue is the best way forward. The Pakistani people must not be shortchanged by the ambitions of a few.
