After the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan by the Rangers from within the premises of Islamabad High Court, violence broke out all over the country.
Enraged PTI activists and supporters crossed lines no one ever dared to step on, storming the Corps Commander’s house in Lahore, and breaking the GHQ gate in Rawalpindi.
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Secretary General Asad Umar distanced themselves from violence asking people to come out to protest but not take law into their own hands. That did not help.
The next day again, crowds clashed with law enforcement agencies, and set fire to public and private property resulting, according to press reports, in eight deaths and injuries to countless others. Unofficial accounts put the casualties at much higher figures. A large number of actual and perceived agitators have been put behind bars.
As the economic crisis worsens with many businesses and industries shutting down, millions have lost their jobs.
An all-time high inflation has rendered a huge number of families destitute. Resort to violence will not resolve anything, nor will use of state power. What needs to be done to restore sanity is not lost on anyone.
Now that things are where they are, all involved need to take a step back. Egos or transient benefits of power must not stand in the way of greater national interest.
All issues of dispute ought to be resolved by legitimate political players, without any extraneous influence, in accordance with the democratic norms and laws of the land. The time to act is now.
Shuja Ahmed (Lahore)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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