Nawaz Sharif has done well to cancel his proposed visit to London and Washington. His stay in the country at this point in time is more beneficial for the country than his sojourn abroad. Though his address to the nation on last Monday was timely but it sounded apologetic rather than aggressive. His body language and expressions on his face said it all: he was between the devil and the blue sea. Had he opposed direct military operation in southern Panjab, masterminded by the army chief, he would have annoyed both the common man and the army. He had, therefore, no option but to go along with what the Army chief desired fully knowing that action against the workers and leaders of the banned religious outfits there would certainly mean a loss of political support of the religious element to Nawaz League He appeared to be making his speech with a heavy heart. His political party nurses a soft corner for the lunatic fringe among the religious element in southern Panjab whose vote bank it doesn’t want to lose. In the past his party had so many times let off the hook arrested leaders of fanatical religious parties in that area by bailing them out of prison. The Army chief has correctly read the situation. He knows that if police was involved in the military crackdown in southern Panjab it would tip off the culprits before hand so that they could make good their escape before the operation.
In point of fact the military crackdown in the southern and central Panjab against the diehard religious fanatics should have been started ten years back but, unfortunately, the successive governments dilly dallied in the matter and every time demand for it was made by the media the political expediency got the better of common sense and it was put on hold. A stitch in time saves nine. Had the lunatic fringe been rooted out ten years back, the Lahore episode, perhaps, would not have taken place. The culprits should not go scot-free. Those protesters who have ransacked government and private property on last Sunday should be arrested and tried for arson. If an example was not made of them no body would be able to prevent recurrence of such episodes in future too. Side by side, those policemen and the executive magistracy who allowed the procession to move towards the federal capital unhindered and unchecked should be proceeded against departmentally and never ever posted again on important administrative positions.
The approach of the law and order enforcing agencies to tackle the clerics who managed to penetrate into the federal capital has also been rather weak. If every Tom, Dick and Harry was allowed on the drop of a hat to sneak into the federal capital to vent his spleen on any issue on which he does not see eye to eye with the rulers for staging a sit-in before parliament and ransack government and private property then God be with the custodians of law and order. This trend needs to be discouraged with iron hand.
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