Pakistan and Future

Long march 2008 was really a historical event that would be remembered like 23rd of March 1940 by the generations to come in Pakistan. Before I talk about the ongoing criticism for going against the wishes of certain segment of the lawyers/political workers to do a sit-in till the demands of restoration of judiciary are met, I would like to highlight the achievements of this long march and its historical success.
As I said 14th of June 2008 has the similar significance in the modern history of Pakistan as 23rd of March 1940 has in the creation of Pakistan. Long March signifies the success of “bloody civilians” over the “all-knowing” establishment of Pakistan. As Aitzaz Ahsan aptly put it that this long march has covered the distance of centuries in moments.

The long march has busted several myths about the people of Pakistan and the establishment of Pakistan.

Let me start with some historical perspective. In one of the talk show , the host mentioned that the first ever long march in the history of Pakistan was that of Khan Abdul Qayum in 1958, where the participants travelled 35 km on foot and as the result of that long march General Skindar Mirza imposed martial law in Pakistan. However there were few more such events , two of them were Tehrik-e-Nijat and Dharna’s of JI and BB’s long march. Unfortunately all of these events were somehow controlled in one way or the other by the establishment to achieve their goals. Just like the long march of Khan Abdul Qayum , all these “long marches” brought a change in government in Islamabad.
One of the myth shared by several high ups in the establishment and the media was that any big gathering in Islamabad could cause Pakistan to fall into chaos. I remember that during the movement in 90’s , Islamabad used to be sealed completely and nobody would be allowed to enter Islamabad even if it is a call from Qazi Hussain Ahmed where you would expect few hundred people to turn up. The reason to seal Islamabad was to create a false myth about the fallibility of Islamabad in particular and Pakistan in general. This myth was totally busted on 14th of June 2008 when hundreds of thousands of people of Pakistan gathered peacefully in the heart of Islamabad without disturbing a single leaf on the trees of Islamabad.

In the battle of democratic forces against the establishment of Pakistan, Long March 2008 has proved to be the most successful strike against the establishment. The democratic forces have enforced their upper hand over the establishment that they gained in the elections of February 2008. The battle in Pakistan is between the power of gun and power of people , the politicians of Pakistan have always relied on the power of people to fight against the generals of Pakistan who hold the gun in their hand and try to pressurize the legitimate people leadership. Be it Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Muhammad Khan Junejo, Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif , the political leadership of Pakistan always stood against the establishment on the basis of their popularity amongst the masses.
The best way to demonstrate this popularity is through the traditional processions (jalsa) in Pakistan. The number game in such processions is very important as it demonstrates the love of people for their leadership. I never down play the interest of foreign governments in Pakistan , and I believe that these processions are a proper way of proving your strength in the eyes of foreign government. For example Benazir Bhutto gained upperhand in negotiations with mad dictator in the presence of foreign guarantors when she successfully demonstrated her popularity on 18th of October 2007.
In the context of Long March 2008, the duration of long march is also very important , usually people would tend to analyze the success of long march on the night of 13th of June , however it is important to consider the period between 9th of June and 12th of June. The huge gathering both in Multan and Lahore can not be ignored. The awakening that people had during this long march in unprecedented in the history of South Asia, I think that it is the most significant event in the history since the division of India in 1947. Just like the freedom movement that started between 1937 and 1940 and picked up the momentum in early 40’s , I think Long March 2008 as the start of movement of emancipation of people of Pakistan from the tyranny of establishment and realization of dream of Pakistan where there is rule of law and democracy. I pick the verse of Aitzaz Ahsan’s poem “Riyasat hoogi maan kai jaisi” as the final goal of this movement.

So what did we achieve in the short term. Well three things stands out for me as the direct consequence of this long march.
1. The democratic forces have decided not to give any safe exit to the mad dictator , put other way for the first time democratic forces have decided to pay back the establishment. The sentence that struck me in Nawaz Sharif’s speech was “Why only politicians are supposed to face execution and exile , now it is time for the dictators to face the same”. I think the message is very clear specially when there is a lot of pressure being built by the dictator’s own constituency (ex-Servicemen) against him. I foresee a trouble time ahead of the mad dictator.
2. It seems now quite impossible for the Dogar clan to keep their positions as the “judges” in the real supreme court. There was a time when lawyers and PML-N were ready to give them some space to stay as judges (I am talking about the Dogar judges who were also judges in the SC before 3rd of November). Dogar, Butter , Khokhar (I think he has already retired), Saeed and one more have lost any ground to stay in the future court. It seems to me that they will resign at the time of restoration of judges.
3. Apparently the distance between PPP, PML-N and lawyers have now been reduced, moreover there will now be some filteration among the ranks of lawyers to take the clear positions with respect to their political allignments.