Azadi March: Will Fazl live up to agreement or follow in PTI’s footsteps?

ISLAMABAD: Will Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman follow in the footsteps of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) by reneging on the accord not to go beyond the agreed point when his Azadi March will reach Islamabad?

More: Maulana Fazl can mobilise 100,000 workers

It will be evident only on Oct 31 whether Fazlur Rehman aided by the major opposition parties will adhere to the understanding or violate it.

In 2014, it was agreed between the Islamabad administration under the then Nawaz Sharif government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after a lot of dispute that the protest would be held at the Zero Point. However, when the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) activists had separately reached that venue, they had stormed into the Aabpara Market and the adjoining Kashmir Highway. The government was content with allowing them to remain camped at these busy places, but they had some other plans as they raced towards the Red Zone.

Related: Azadi March kicks off from Karachi

Then, there was no stopping, and they forced their way into the D-Chowk. The law enforcers had presented a helpless spectacle to stop the protesters as behemoth cranes were used to throw away dozens of shipping containers to clear the way.

At every stage, it was ensured that there was no armed confrontation between the law enforcers and protesters to avoid any human loss. The government was cautious and careful to avoid casualties as it was still being haunted by the Model Town, Lahore tragedy in which over a dozen PAT supporters had been killed in a face-off with police.

More: No roadblocks as Azadi marchers leave for Islamabad

While Fazlur Rehman has started his Azadi March from Karachi that will take at least four days to arrive in the federal capital, the PTI-PAT had launched their protests from Lahore. The then extremely harassed Shahbaz Sharif government, which was under tremendous pressure due to the Model Town gory episode, created no hurdle whatsoever and allowed the march to race to Islamabad, leaving it to the federal administration to deal with them. Because of this policy, the protest passed through Punjab peacefully. The real drama unfolded when it reached Islamabad.

At the time, an agreement had also been signed between the PTI and the Islamabad administration. But it was attached no importance as the protesters did what they had planned. The accord was quite similar to the one inked now between the JUI-F and the capital administration.

The Zero Point, Aabpara Market and the nearby Kashmir Highway where the PTI and PAT activists had initially forcibly come were relatively close to the Constitution Avenue, which is part of the Red Zone. The Sunday Bazaar ground in H-9 sector near Peshawar Morr where it has been agreed that the Azadi March will be held is around nearly four kilometers away from where the protesters had assembled in the beginning in 2014. Naturally, the JUI-F zealots would need more time and have to remove more hurdles to venture into the Red Zone if they decide to breach the accord.

What chief government negotiator Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak has now stated is akin to what the then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had articulated in 2014: “The law will come into action if democratic institutions were attacked. We will not allow the protesters to enter the Red Zone. Nobody will be permit to take the law into his hands. The government is trying to convince PTI to record its protest without disturbing citizens and paralysing civic life in Islamabad. Nobody would be permitted to ransack government and state buildings. The Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel and police forces have been summoned from other cities to ensure the protection of national installations. A mechanism has also been evolved for the use of water cannons. A three-tier security plan has been prepared and FC, police and Rangers personnel will perform their duties to avert any untoward incident.”

The agreement signed between the JUI-F and Islamabad administration is silent on the duration of the protest, and it only says that “the organiser shall be responsible for ensuring timings are strictly adhered to”. The “timings” have not been qualified in the publicly released document. The accord also says there will be no road obstruction or disturbance to the general public and traffic.

Fazlur Rehman himself has also not fully unveiled details of his programme – whether the protest will be confined to one day and will end after a public meeting or it will be converted into a sit-in for a specified or indefinite time. He has stated that some aspects of the protest have been deliberately kept vague.

It is clear from the instant agreement that the law enforcement agencies will stay away from the very Azadi March gathering, as, according to it, “the internal security of the programme is the responsibility of the organisers”, who will also “arrange walk-through gates”.

There will be obviously complete calm and tranquility and the Azadi March will be unable to create further stir its sponsors intend to engender if all or most of the conditions of the present agreement are abided by. However, there is a long track record of political parties tearing apart such accords and do what they have predetermined once they are able to mobilise sufficient gatherings. This phenomenon was amply witnessed in the countless protests held during the tenure of the previous government.

While the agreement has been signed and the venue appointed for the Azadi March, the government is taking no chances as every administration had been doing in the past in ensuring mobilisation of a large number of policemen and other law enforcement agency personnel to handle any unexpected situation.

However, it is believed that there are generally lesser risks this time of an unpredictable widespread mayhem and anarchy especially in Islamabad compared to the situation prevailing in 2014 for different reasons although the present Azadi March has bigger political support than the previous one. Earlier, it was the PTI-PAT show only while the instant march is being backed by almost all opposition parties worth the name.