In the year 1968, a sedition case dubbed as Agartala Conspiracy Case had been filed against the then popularly leading Awami League leader Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman along with his 34 aides. He was then arrested and shifted to Lahore’s infamous Kot Lakhpat Jail where he along with others had been detained and prosecuted as traitors. To which a political dilemma had arose in the then East Pakistan province and severe clashes between law enforcement agencies and public had occurred.
According to official reports, in those skirmishes, it is said that 80 people had been killed while several hundred had been injured. This sparked a revolutionary movement in East Pakistan province against the establishment specifically against the armed forces for their alleged brutal massacre of common public. People of East Pakistan protested against the alleged unconscious and unconstitutional acts of terror framed by the Pakistan’s establishment and fought a rigorous battle, and this revoke their conviction of living alongside the West Pakistan province and demanded a free dominion in which they could live as an equally treated citizens.
This sparked the slogan of the East Pakistan’s claim of war of independence from West Pakistan. From what happened in 1968 till Indo-Bangla-Pak war of 1971, there had been a fragile period of clashes and enmity between the people of East Pakistan and establishment on several important issues such as induction of Bengali as national language and repealing of One Unit policy to undermine East Pakistan’s majority popular democratic electorate. But why are we discussing something that happened long ago as about half century has passed by now. It is because of the similarities betweenthe period of 1968 till Fall of Dhaka of 16th December, 1971.
As of now, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has emerged as the most popular party in today’s Pakistan due to its enormous public support and win in Punjab’s by polls and Karachi’s NA-245. Another sedition case has been registered by the government against the most popularly leading party’s leader Mr. Imran Khan for his remarks against high-ranking police officers and a female magistrate in his Islamabad rally commemorated in solidarity with his chief coordinator’s political and ruthless persecution and ban against a popular private channel: ARY News Network which is largely in favour of Mr. Imran Khan’s regime change narrative and movement.
Things are getting worse with each passing day and both sides are not considering downplaying their roles and narratives. Once again, we are doomed to committing the same mistakes as we did earlier which resulted in breaking of Pakistan into two separate nation-states: Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The political instability is really affecting the economic instability and rise in inflation of which the common public is being victimized by bearing the loss which could be evaded by a grand politico-economic dialogue between the concerned parties. If this goes on further and the political forces don’t realize the severity of the moment then this could precariously damage the already diminishing economy of the country.
All sides must sit together and discuss a potential solution to the already out of hand situation before it’s too late to revert back and find a compromised common sense. It is as if we have learned nothing from history at national level. Political consensus is the need of the hour but one of the stakeholders should come forward to start a positive progression in the near future or else this stagnation will be the demise of our beloved nation which was founded on the sole basics of unity, faith and discipline.
Political harmony may well cause a positive influence and give confidence to the economic sector and rebuilding of the already deteriorating society. Some red lines shouldn’t be crossed by both sides as this may result in the worse possible scenarios. Government being the responsible authority and executive branch of the country must avoid such steps which invigorate the situation even to more perilous ways.
Some political parties in the government had already shown concerns about the current persecution of the government opposing players but this isn’t enough for downplaying the situation. A committee or a commission must be commemorated to instigate a dialogue between both opposing parties as there is too much at stake now than ever before.
International and national security must be prioritised as the first ever National Security Policy delineated the citizen-based security, integrity and economic growth as its sole focus. A Grand National Dialogue between all stakeholders is a possible viable solution. Targeting the most popular leader Mr. Imran Khan, which has been established by his large public support and specially by surveys conducted by different NGOs, won’t solve any issue rather aggravate the situation.
KPK, being the province, which has never repeatedly given mandate to any party in the past has become Khan’s stronghold. People of KPK even started to compare Mr. Khan with Bacha Khan who was a famous freedom fighter and had a very strong presence in the then Frontier province.
This article indicates only one dilemma that aggression begets nothing but negative results. The situation at hand is too complicated and complex for any single party to confidently achieve its purpose. Instead, all would be lost in this cause of individual gains and prospects of peace and harmony are dooming day by day. This needs to be addressed at all levels of political arena; be it national, local or village levels as popular politics has afflicted a great deal of conflicts between the common public.
People of Pakistan ought to be given a buffer zone as the political tempest has integrated even in households. There’s always a common cause for which we can work and for now this cause should be downplaying rising political discourse and stress on the more important issues like economic duress, public security, and safety, threatening terrorized margins.