As the minutes tick by and 27 th October 2019 draws near and near one can note growing tension in the government’s political circles about the proposed lock down threat of Islamabad by Maulana Fazlur Rehman who is politically shrewd enough to realise that his long march which he also describes as Azadi March would at least resuscitate his dying political stature, if it does not do anything else because it has been hitting the headlines for the last couple of months.
The PPP and Nawaz League have their own dilemmas. Both of them would like to see Imran Khan in trouble but they also do not want to see Maulana Fazlur Rehman stealing the show and becoming leader of the political campaign aimed at the ouster of the present federal government and that is the precise reason why they are holding their cards close to their chest .
For the government this issue is going to prove a big headache. We have seen sometimes back how a relatively small group of people under the tutelage of Maulvi Khadim Hussain had virtually brought life at standstill in Islamabad by their sit-in for many weeks. The government is between the devil and the deep blue sea. If it uses force not to allow the protestors to reach the federal capital the possibility of casualties cannot be ruled out which can snowball into a much bigger law and order problem. If it opens a dialogue with the protesters many people would construe it as a government’s weakness.
The government would have to tackle this issue very tactfully. This issue would put to litmus test the political acumen of the powers that be.
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