Maulana Fazlur Rehman is fighting for political relevance. The results of the 2018 election tossed him into a political wilderness as he failed to win any National Assembly seat for himself. The Maulana fears that he will fade into political oblivion if he does not do something spectacular to rectify the situation to his advantage.

His eyes are on the next general elections. To unite the opposition parties behind a common line, Fazl painstakingly tried to convince them to throw their weight behind him. Resignation from the assemblies was not a realistic option any longer after the two mainstream opposition parties, the PML-N and the PPP, stopped short of joining the JUI-F’s sit-in.

The government’s resignation was never the end but the means to the end of improving the chances of the JUI-F finding its political relevance. The understanding in the JUI-F appears to be that it was Imran Khan’s 126-day Islamabad sit-in, widely publicised by the electronic media, which helped the PTI amass votes in the 2018 elections. Maulana Fazl and his JUI are treading the same path. Although the media did cover the Azadi March, the coverage was never on a scale available to the PTI’s 2014 dharna.

Had the PML-N and the PPP participated in Fazl’s dharna, there might have been a real possibility of forcing the government to resign. In that case, the Maulana would have been a real hero. And in the event of an election following such a resignation, he might have capitalised on his success and got some seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies. Major beneficiaries of the march and sit-in, however, have been definitely the PML-N and the PPP.

The two mainstream political parties backing away from the Azadi March proved its undoing. Seen through political lens, their choice is pragmatic. Whether or not dharnas de-seat a government, they have the potential to undermine governments in Pakistan. In the future, sending government home packing through dharnas might have become an undesirable political precedent.

As soon as other political parties distanced themselves from the JUI-F dharna, the Maulana started pressing his religious card. Fazl has long accused Imran Khan of working for a Jewish agenda. The Maulana has also accused him of amending laws related to finality of prophet-hood of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). While addressing a Seerat-un-Nabi conference on 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, Fazl vowed to thwart any attempt to amend the constitution to reverse the amendment which declared Ahmedis non-Muslim minority. He also glorified Mumtaz Qadri and warned that every Muslim would become Mumtaz Qadri to defeat any attempt to revoke the Ahmedis’ status as non-Muslim minority in Pakistan.

Fazl took his cue from Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) dharna. A non-political entity initially, TLP shot to fame on the heel of controversy regarding an amendment in the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat oath in the Elections Act 2017. Barelvi cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi staged his sit-in at Faizabad in November 2017 and blocked the Faizabad Interchange for 20 days. Owing to the media coverage he received, Rizvi was successful in disseminating his hatred-based views across vast sections of society. In the 2018 election, the TLP received 2,234,138 votes for the National Assembly and emerged as the fifth largest political party in terms of votes polled. The Maulana wants to replicate that success.

Fazl’s dharna was aimed mainly at showing his street power to the state than the government. He wanted to impress upon the-power-that be that he must never be taken lightly; that he deserves due representation both in Provincial Assemblies and the parliament. It seems that Fazl has effectively registered his protest on the count. His abrupt end to the 13-day long Azadi March led several TV presenters to speculate that the Maulana had struck some kind of a deal and that perhaps the incumbent government won’t stay in power beyond March 2020 or that the prime minister will be replaced by someone else. Additionally, there was speculation that election will be held early.

The Maulana’s objective of reclaiming his political space has gone on unabated. On November 26, while addressing a press conference after the multi-party conference, Maulana Fazl reiterated the opposition demand for the holding a fresh, impartial and free and fair election in the country. It looks as if the coming months are going to be a cliffhanger for the federal government.

The government should sincerely engage Maulana Fazl in talks and stop ridiculing him. In all probability, it is the continuity of the democratic dispensation, no matter how compromised it appears to be, which will pave the way for the strengthening of democracy in the future. Agitation will continue to cast a dark shadow on the bodypolitic of the country until there is a realisation that elections must be regular, inclusive, free and fair.

The government should sincerely engage Maulana Fazl in talks and stop ridiculing him. In all probability, it is the continuity of the democratic dispensation, no matter how compromised it appears to be, which will pave the way for the strengthening of democracy in the future. Agitation will continue to cast a dark shadow on the bodypolitic of the country until there is a realisation that elections must be regular, inclusive, free and fair.