Islamabad's backdown on occupation protesters is a failure of law and order

At dawn on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 25, events and personalities in Islamabad seemed caught up in a familiar drama.

On one side was snarling traffic and a group of protesters making life difficult for citizens. On the other side was an embattled government, desperately trying to negotiate its way out of yet another crisis. And behind the scenes was the looming shadow of Pakistan’s military.

The entire picture was reminiscent of the occupation of Islamabad three years earlier by Imran Khan and his supporters. And it was generally accepted that the resolution of this crisis would occur in the same manner as the past one — with the government eventually outwaiting the protesters.

But instead of waiting it out, the government took action on Saturday, sending in waves of policemen armed with tear gas and rubber bullets to try to dislodge the protesters. Unfortunately for the government, the action not only failed to dislodge the protesters but touched off protests across the country.    

In desperation, the government issued an order to the Pakistan Army directing it to deploy troops and control the law and order situation. The Army then politely demurred, noting that it need “clarifications” on various points before proceeding.

As confusion grew, small groups of protesters started emerging on to the streets in major cities, stopping cars and occasionally attacking them. Seemingly cowed by its failure in Islamabad, the police disappeared. And Pakistan seemed to slide into chaos.

By Monday, the government had thrown in the towel. The demands of the protesters were accepted and the law minister deemed culpable was forced to resign. To add insult to injury, the same Army that had earlier refused to intervene now showed up and distributed compensation to the protesters.

The PML-N government now lives to fight another day. Whether it has been fatally weakened will soon be evident but the question now is whether it erred by using force or whether it should have waited out the protesters, as in the case of Imran Khan?

The problem with this question is that it elides the issue of timing. In other words, the question is not just what the government should have done but when.

Secondly, the government should not have let the protesters entrench themselves in Islamabad. Instead, after the first day or two of the occupation of Faizabad interchange, the Islamabad administration should have realized that the protesters were settling in for the long haul and tried to evict them.

Thirdly, and most importantly, once the government made the decision to wait out the protesters, it had to own that decision. Instead, the government chose to act as if its hands were tied, as if the protests were part of some grander conspiracy that it was powerless to prevent. That was — and remains — inexcusable.

Hobbes’ classic treatise on political theory, “Leviathan”, makes the simple argument that people need to accept one all-powerful sovereign because only that sovereign can provide them with security of life and limb, and that the alternative is a “state of nature” in which life is “solitary, poor, nasty brutish and short.”

That argument still holds true today. The most elemental responsibility of a state is to defend the lives of its citizens. The current PML-N regime failed in this. Instead, it took the position that “we cannot take action because the resultant unrest may result in the dismissal of our government.” And even when it took action, the government pointed toward various judicial directives to give the impression that it was a reluctant actor.

That approach is fundamentally unsound. A citizen’s right to security supersedes a political party’s right to continue in power.  Even from an electioneering perspective, the PML-N’s timidity makes no sense. The PML-N is not a party founded on a grand ideology. Instead, what it offers is competent governance and economic growth. But why vote for a self-proclaimed group of victims which even if elected would be too disempowered to even provide security?

The PML-N government has to make its stand now. It cannot continue to appear (and be) helpless. Instead, it must use whatever options are available to re-establish itself as the guardian of law and order. It must look like it is in charge. Only then will it survive, not just the next few days but the coming elections of 2018.

• Feisal Hussain Naqvi is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School. He writes regularly for both Pakistani and international publications on issues regarding governance and politics. His twitter handle is @laalshah