The cost of political strife

EDITORIAL: Last weekend saw yet another fierce showdown transpiring between the PTI and the government following the former giving a protest call on account of Imran Khan’s continued detention, leading to Islamabad and Lahore coming to a virtual standstill as thousands of law enforcement personnel were deployed to deal with the protestors, hundreds of containers were used as barricades, and numerous PTI members were arrested after allegedly clashing with the police.

While the right to protest is a pillar of a functioning democracy, in Pakistan unfortunately, protests have regularly been associated with closure of economic activities, violence and huge disruption to the lives of ordinary citizens. Given the current highly shaky state of the economy, the country can ill-afford such drama on the streets on a regular basis.

As revealed by the finance minister recently, the PTI protests led to the national economy suffering cumulative losses of Rs190 billion per day, while around 800,000 families were impacted in Islamabad alone.

The losses, calculated by the Economic Wing of the Finance Ministry, considered losses in GDP, tax revenue, business and export, foreign direct investment flows, and in the information technology sector, as well as costs associated with the deployment of law enforcement.

The PTI’s critics could validly argue that the party has the tendency of going overboard whenever it is in protest mode, with some of its leadership appearing more focused on theatrics and dramatic gestures, overshadowing any serious intent in achieving its goals.

It could also be argued that its protest movements over the years, like in the case of the 2014 dharna, led to considerable coarsening of the political climate, apart from significantly disrupting the economy. However, it is equally true that the ruling PML-N has also repeatedly demonstrated a predilection to considerably overreact to protests and rallies by opposition forces.

Although Pakistan cannot afford the economic toll of strikes and protests, the fact is that the space for dissent in the country has been shrinking steadily, with controversial laws being passed and even non-violent groups facing bans. In such a repressive climate, placing the blame for the economic damage caused by protests solely on the PTI is unjustified.

The finance minister’s appeal to those calling for strikes to consider the consequences of their actions and instead seek negotiations comes across as disingenuous, as the rulers have made minimal efforts to engage with the PTI in a sincere dialogue.

Instead, they have frequently relied on heavy-handed tactics to suppress the party’s leadership and members, leaving little room for meaningful discourse or peaceful resolution of issues.

In fact, the rulers’ actions during recent protests have routinely transformed what could have been ordinary public gatherings into major conflagrations.

While it could be reasonable to argue that nefarious elements might exploit protests to disrupt law and order, the excessive deployment of police personnel, and even the army, to deal with political protestors only serves to heighten tensions.

Furthermore, the effectiveness of that go-to tactic of the government of slowing down internet services during protests ostensibly in a bid to control mischief remains questionable, as all that does is paralyse businesses, halt financial transactions and disrupt essential services.

It is clear that both the PTI and the ruling coalition must step back from their current confrontational stance and seek ways to lower political temperatures.

While the PTI should adopt a more thoughtful approach to its actions and rhetoric, this is even more true of the rulers as they bear the ultimate responsibility to stabilise the political climate and the economy, given their more powerful position. If they fail to do so, all their pronouncements regarding the economic costs of political strife will ring hollow as they will be seen as exacerbating the very issues they claim to be addressing.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024