Pakistan Cracking Down On Voices Of Dissent
Pakistan is in the midst of a political upheaval; as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government is tightening the noose over anti-government voices. From silencing the opposition by arresting leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party, Asif Ali Zardari and Hamza Shahbaz of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and cracking down on groups such as the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), the Imran Khan led government is strategically silencing dissent. The arrest of self-exiled Pakistani politician and leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain by the British authorities appears that the Pakistan government was behind it. Islamabad seems to be working as per the Pak army to stop criticism coming from any quarter. However, the iron hand policy in dealing with opposition and voices of dissent could backfire.
The arrest of the opposition leaders under the guise of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB); supposedly on charges of corruption was very strategically made during the Pakistani parliament’s budget session so as to keep the opposition busy and pass the budget. According to analysts, the NAB has now set its gaze on former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former Water and Power Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif, both influential leaders of the PML-N. It has to be noted that PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maryam Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N have met twice to take stock of the situation and have jointly termed the budget as anti-people and an IMF guided financial document.
The meetings came at a time when NAB has been pursuing investigations against the main leaders of the two parties and also in the backdrop of the arrest of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur as well as PML-N Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz. The PTI has termed these meetings as a marriage of convenience but if these two parties could unite the opposition parties and initiate protests, it could add to the political problems, the Khan government is facing. The opposition parties have pointed out that the arrests were politically motivated and Imran Khan is using corruption as a pretext to silence opponents, while at the same time terming groups like PTM as agents of the enemy and arresting their democratically elected leaders like Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir.
After the arrest of the two PTM leaders and the killing of PTM activists by the military during a protest in North Waziristan, the area is under the Pak army’s siege. Through the social media, a PTM leader Manzoor Pastheen said that “locals are being treated as war prisoners and only gun carrying people roam in the towns”.Activists have also highlighted that the compensation meant for protesters killed in violence by the army are withheld and families are informed that it would be released only when they absolve the Pak army and blame the arrested members of PTM for the killings.
Recently a woman leader of PTM, Gulalai Ismail has been arrested from Peshawar for making anti-state speeches. Two cases were registered against Gulalai under terrorism act. Earlier also, Gulalai Ismail’s name was blacklisted in connection with trumped-up charges. These point to blatant human rights violation by the Pakistani State to cover up the Pashtun massacre and crush the civil rights movement in the country.
The NAB has speeded its probe against Khaqan Abbasi and is on a mission to prove that the democratically elected leaders of PTM are funded by external agencies for anti-government activities. The PTI is attempting to dismember the Pashtun leadership on this basis. In such a backdrop, the coming together of the opposition leaders Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and signing the document termed as the ‘Charter of Democracy’ is important in the context of long-term Pakistani politics, especially as the opposition parties are trying to build up momentum against the policies of the Imran Khan government.
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