Block the road

Facing a problem? Loadshedding? Contaminated water? Gas brownouts? 

Solution: block the road.

Do you see a conspiracy against the religion in a law? 

Block the road.

Baton-wielding activists of religious parties have been occupying the Faizabad crossing for the straight three days in protest at government’s refusal to succumb to their demand: sack the federal law and parliamentary affairs minister for his alleged role in rewording the oath of voters in the electoral reforms bill of 2017. 

Though the issue of the oath words, which according to the government was a clerical error, was detected and fixed within days, the clerics and activists of the Tehreek Labaik Ya Rasool Allah and the Sunni Tehreek have refused to disperse without getting sacked the minister and released their activists who were arrested for breaching the law.   

Not only Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the religious parties staged violent protests in Faisalabad and Lahore. 

Last week, the clerics blocked the motorway near Babu Sabu interchange. 

The backlog of motors was up to eight kilometres from the Ravi tool plaza to Kot Momin interchange. The 10-minute journey was done in seven hours when the administration persuaded the protesters to lift the blockade. In Faisalabad, the police were able to disperse the protesters after a violent clash spanning over half an hour.

There are two ways to deal with protests: talks and actions. Without using either option, the government has allowed the protesters to block the twin cities. This is the time the government must formulate a strategy and spring into action about what to do with the protesters. Talk to them? Chuck them out? Wait and see? Let them sit until they are too exhausted to sit and siege the cities anymore?

Regardless what strategy the government is going to take up to deal with protesters, the matter of the fact is that commuters are the ultimate sufferers in protests. Gone are the days, when protesters would turn to grounds holding rallies and expressing their anger through speeches, slogans, and placards. Now, they turn to highways, motorways, metro corridor and so on. Given the large volume of vehicular traffic on roads, the backlog of vehicles soon turns into miles long vehicle columns. Traffic jam on one road impacts the surrounding arteries and life comes to a halt in minutes. The weapon of road blockade works well to pressure the government.   

Protesting against government policies or expressing one’s political ideology or dissent on road is one's right, in a functional democracy. Blocking the road, however, is criminal. Similarly, the selective use of force by the riot police is equally criminal. The police have now given a free hand to the religious parties’ workers and earlier the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek to hold the capital hostage. The right to protest was not given to farmers when they came to Parliament to demand fair treatment on the federal budget day; recently, the students of the Quaid-i-Azam University were badly thrashed and rounded up for taking to streets for their rights.   

The government should formulate two strategies to deal with protesters: one, political, and another administrative. On the political front, the government must hold dialogues with the agitators and try to talk out the issues. Talks lead to solutions. Refusal to hold talks creates deadlock and stalemate lead to a bumpy ride. On the administrative front, the government should deal strictly with roadblocks. There should be dedicated places for protests. In case, someone tries to disrupt the flow of traffic, special riot forces should be trained to deal with violent protests.

A strict enforcement of the law will lead to peaceful protests.