The Mall rally

It was heartening to see a political activity in Lahore, once the hub of such activities, after so many years where the opposition assembled for a political cause. Such things are becoming a rarity in the newly democratic Pakistan. Political rallies, often by students, used to be an almost everyday scene in big cities during the 60s to 90s, and then traders-turned-politicians took the centre stage, making the real political activities an unusual thing. To see a united, but fragmented, opposition hold a political rally on The Mall is a welcome scene, and it is hoped such more rallies will be brought out by the united opposition against the governments in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan.

The Punjab government met the show gracefully and without creating any hindrance let it go. Some traders, who would throw eggs on protesting nurses and shower rose petals on pro-Mumtaz Qadri lawyers’ had moved the Lahore High Court against the political show, but the honorable judges accepted people’s right to assembly and protest and allowed the Pakistan Awami Tehreek-led political show to be held with certain conditions. The Mall traders demand special privilege that rallies be banned on the road for they affect their business. Most of the time, they are given favor by banning the rallies, which is against the spirit of the people’s right to rally and protest. Very rarely, political rallies go violent. Hopefully, the coming months will see more and more political gatherings.

The last political gathering showed how a fragmented opposition leaves no political impact behind. The rally, which was convened by PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, against the government’s failure to bring the killers of the Model Town tragedy to the task. He had invited Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Q and a few other parties to the show. It would have been the beginning of an era like the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, or Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan-led political alliances, but the spanner, thrown by PTI Chairman Imran Khan spoiled the spirit when he said he would not share the stage with Asif Zardari. Though Dr Tahirul Qadri went ahead with the plan, vowing to bring both Imran and Zardari to the stage, the damage was already done, and the activists of either party were not ready to listen to each other. Imran Khan is introducing a new culture where an opposition party berates another opposition party benefitting the government.

The rally, though well attended by a very charged crowd, concluded without giving any solid programme. Asif Zardari aimed at Nawaz Sharif; Imran Khan spent his vocal energies on government and Sharif’s corruption, whereas Dr Qadri and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi only targeted the Shahbaz Sharif government. Sheikh Rasheed announced his resignation from the National Assembly. He also invited Imran Khan to follow him.

Once the rally was over, the workers had no plan ahead for the coming days.

A well-organized show went in vain.