MINAR-E-PAKISTAN JALSA — WHAT IS NEW?
This was the place where the Lahore resolution of 1940 was passed. This is where the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were welcomed. This is where the PTI gained public approval, where today the Pakistan Democratic Movement is going to record its historic mark. The 1940 resolution was a federal charter that led to the establishment of Pakistan in Muslim-majority areas. Pakistan was formed but a federation was formed, democracy did not come and the country was divided.
The Lahore Resolution was a manifestation of democratic aspirations. They are still stumbling in thirsty completion, successive democratic struggles and now the opposition parties are gathering at Minar Pakistan for a new democratic charter. But what’s new this time? Will the dawn of freedom of the people dawn or will another unfortunate evening soaked in the blood of the sun be our destiny? Or what is new is that the Punjab which has provided its strong shoulders to the bureaucratic structure of the colonial era even in the post-colonial era may have gathered today at Lahore to pay homage to the memorable resolution of Sajdah-e-Sahu.
And in the unfinished efforts of the democratic struggle of many generations, now the fourth young generation of politicians is entering the field and also the trustees of tomorrow’s testimonies and the claimants of the coming democratic tomorrow. Today, the two leaders of the new generation, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and Bilawal Bhutto, will be present. Maryam Nawaz has already warmed up the streets of Lahore. Let’s see what flowers are fed today that could not open before? Those who do not tire of saying that meetings, processions are not going to make any difference, are in fact deniers of public aspirations and people’s power and do not know that it is the people who make history, not today but tomorrow!
Why do people forget the struggle against One Unit, the people’s resistance against the dictatorship of General Ayub, the uprising of people against the dictatorship of General Yahya, the long resistance of MRD against General Zia-ul-Haq and the struggle for the restoration of democracy against General Musharraf? Where are the horrible giants whose names in history are in black words? And who was hanged, martyred on the streets and handcuffed and taken out, they are still alive today and so are their heirs. This is not a happy legacy but a heartbreaking legacy. It is a crown of thorns. Someone turns his head and someone turns his face away.
When Bilawal Bhutto went to pay homage to Nawaz Sharif’s mother on Friday and when Maryam Nawaz went to Bilawal House on Saturday, it was a merger of the two warring factions of the past. It was historical repression and an expression of learning from history. Now the PPP, the largest party in Punjab in the past, and the PML-N, the current major party, are merging, and at a time when the wave of the PTI replacing the PPP is waning, it is time for a political crisis in the country’s most powerful and largest province. It is going to atone for its sins as well as breathe true life into the Federal Democratic Republic of Pakistan.
Bilawal Bhutto and Maryam Nawaz may not realize that the work is going to take a history from them. Today’s meeting will take place and the direction of the wind will also change, but the question is where to go next? The drumbeat of war has already rung, the doors of dialogue are closed for the time being. The allegations leveled against Maulana Fazlur Rehman by Imran Khan’s Wazir Ali Amin Gandapur that he has met RAW and MI-6 are horrible and irresponsible. Imran Khan, while talking to columnists, made a similar allegation that the opposition has the support of two or three countries.
Imran Khan said that if his government is gone, then see what happens. What a wonderful way to screw people over. Therefore, the opposition has closed the doors of negotiations. Now the long march will take place in February. Then there will be a rain of resignations. If all this happens then bring the scene before your eyes, what will happen? With half the seats vacant, there could be either a general election or a forced vacation. The only middle way left is for the ruling party to remain neutral and withdraw from the political confrontation, which will open up space for politics and open the way for a democratic change of government within the parliamentary constitutional framework.
If it doesn’t happen, there will be a conflict and a conflict in which no mediator will be available. In such a case, there is bound to be a constitutional breakdown, so we know the consequences, which are constantly being repeated in our history, and this is not far-fetched! How can anyone believe the consolation given by Bilawal Bhutto and Maryam Nawaz in their joint press conference to avoid unconstitutional interference with regard to the third force. The PDM has to make sure that the vehicle of democracy not only derails but also strengthens democracy, democratic institutions and constitutional state administration. But in history, the results that people dreamed of seldom come out.
One way is constitutional and it needs space for which the authorities retreat and then form an interim national government which will find a solution to the riddles of history and paves the way for constitutional adjustment between the institutions.
The other way is a long way to go, which requires a new charter and a new development agreement. There is a need for broader dialogue and consultation with civil society. All human, democratic, economic and political rights of the people of Pakistan and the equal participation of the federal units must be agreed upon, putting aside ideological differences. Then PDM will be able to do something new, otherwise the same three leaves of Dhaka!
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