The long-drawn Dharna at Faizabad interchange in Islamabad has finally come to an end as the PML-N Government and protesters signed an agreement. According to the agreement an inquiry board will be set up so that action can be taken against those responsible for the controversial amendment to the Finality of Prophet-hood declaration for electoral candidates within 30 days.
Belated but voluntary resignation by the Law Minister Zahid Hamid, finally paved a way for peaceful departure of TLYR protesters who under the leadership of Khadim H Rizvi have been camping out at Faizabad Interchange over past three weeks seeking resignation of all those involved in the change in a clause of Election Bill 2017, regarding Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (finality of the prophet-hood) in the declaration form of the public office holders. The government and Faizabad protesters reached an agreement on Monday to end the sit-in. Rizvi, the TLYR leader made the official announcement to end the sit-in around and appealed to protesters across the country to disperse.
Keeping up with its tradition Pakistan Army, which had purportedly ‘refused’ to allow the military to be used against protesters, again played a key role to reach a peaceful agreement between government and the protesters.
Following the development people of twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad who bore the brunt of weeks-long Dharna heaved a sigh of relief. The thriving Dharna politics has unfortunately adversely affected the citizenry all across the country, however, people living in the twin cities have been worst victims of political extremism. It has been observed that political extremism breads violence, creates uncertainty, renders governance impossible, which ultimately impels the government to either resort to strong-arm tactics or surrender under pressure. Nonetheless it is the common people who suffer for no fault of theirs’ due to the prolonged sit-ins/Dharnas.
Now that the situation has been diffused, protesters are back to their homes, it remains yet to be seen to what extent the government and the people of at the helm of affairs are interested in protecting the rights common masses who always remain at the receiving end while facing such kind of messy situations. Holding peaceful protests is indeed a democratic right but disrupting public life or holding cities and its inhabitants hostage is not politics but imposition. It is the sole responsibility of the government that nobody, whosoever, should be allowed to take law into their hands. In order to arrest this surging trend of protracted Dharna-Politics it is incumbent upon the government to devise a comprehensive policy and code of conduct for holding of Dharnas besides taking the necessary steps to avoid any such occurrence in future. The government should pursue zero-tolerance approach against political or religious extremism as the country that has suffered terribly over the past several years could no longer afford any kind of political uncertainty.