After hearing of the postponement of the long march to Islamabad by Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, I took a sigh of relief. I also posed an honest question to myself who was the winner- opposition or rulers. Some inner voice whispered to me that the distress city of Islamabad was the winner. We have witnessed many anti-government protests both peaceful and violent in the past. In all these protests Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar used to be the epicenter of public protests or agitations.  Islamabad was always spared to deal with such ordeals. The onslaught on Islamabad is a new phenomenon started by Allama Tahir ul Qadri, and followed by others. We remember the long marches and subsequent long sit-ins in the city in 2012, and 2014. We knew the forces backing these sit-ins.  

Islamabad foiled two long marches this month. Bravo.  Hafiz Engineer Naeem Ur Rehman is no match to the former Amir of Jamaat Islami, Late Qazi Hussain Ahmed in agitational politics, behind-the-scene formation of political alliances, and his robust mentoring of Afghanistan’s Mujahidin. Similarly, the young Chief Minister of KPK, Muhammad Sohail Afridi could not match the political dexterity of his predecessor, Ali Amin Gandapur, in forcing his way to Islamabad. However, Chief Minister Afridi remained focused on the mass mobilization to collect a mammoth crowd in Islamabad notwithstanding apprehensions of bloody clashes. 

The PTI friends say that the long march was postponed for a few days as part of their strategy to tire out Islamabad rulers. Now they have given a fresh call for resumption of the long march on 4 October. There are reports they have been trying to win over Moulana Sahib for participation in the march towards the besieged city.   They are sanguine the Moulana will join their peaceful long march. The JUI Sindh, under the leadership of the Soomro brothers, remained at a distance from PTI in Sindh during Sohail Afridi’s visit.  The question is why Moulana will burn........

© The Friday Times