ISLAMABAD: After launching a crackdown on “miscreants” who had damaged public and private properties during the three-day countrywide protest against the Supreme Court judgement in Aasia Bibi case, the government has now hinted at taking action against the leadership of the protesters for inciting violence and making seditious speeches.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, while talking to reporters during his visit to Karachi, declared in categorical terms that “no one should have any doubt that the state will ignore and forgive” the acts of damaging the properties and delivering speeches against the government, judiciary and the army.

“The impression that this government is weak will be removed as we take further action,” he said in an apparent reference to the ongoing criticism of the government for entering into a deal with the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) for ending the protest sit-ins that had kept the country paralysed for three days.

“The acts of damaging people’s properties and insulting the country’s political, military and judicial leaderships are unpardonable,” the minister said, adding: “This is not a religious matter, it is related to rebellion. Should the state ignore mutiny? The credibility of a state that ignores rebellion becomes questionable. Therefore, we cannot turn a blind eye to it.”

Twitter account associated with Khadim Rizvi suspended after minister’s complaint

The state would not forget and forgive the kind of speeches made against judges of the apex court, the army and the government, he asserted, clarifying that they had resolved the issue temporarily under a strategy in order to defuse tension and open the blocked roads in towns and cities. He said the government had the option of using state power, but it could have caused more damage and “then the government would have been criticised for using force”.

Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi had on Friday ordered the crackdown on the “miscreants” involved in damaging public properties and vehicles.

Similarly, Minister of State for Communications Murad Saeed had announced that action would be taken against those who had carried out destructive activities on motorways and national highways during the protest.

The two state ministers had said that the culprits would be identified through video footage and with the help of the Federal Investigation Agency and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

Sources in the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) told Dawn that there was resentment within the party ranks as even some ministers were found to be disappointed over the government decision to enter into a deal with the TLP leadership.

A minister agreed that if the PTI government did not take notice of the speeches made by the TLP leaders, the credibility of the government and the independence of the judiciary would be undermined. He also agreed that such speeches were sufficient to try the TLP leaders under sedition charges.

He was of the view that people would be right in questioning the action taken against politicians like Nehal Hashmi, Tallal Chaudhry, Faisal Raza Abidi and Daniyal Aziz on contempt charges, if no action was taken against the TLP leaders for their speeches in which they had openly threatened the judges and asked army generals to revolt against the state.

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari stated earlier in the day through her official social media account on Twitter that the policy of “appeasement to avoid bloodshed sends a dangerous message to non-state actors and undermines the very concept of democratic peaceful protest. The state has to enforce rule of law, Constitution and stand by state institutions especially when they are targeted”.

Ms Mazari, who is PTI’s most vocal parliamentarian, through another tweet gave an example of the 1938 Munich Agreement signed by Germany and Soviet Union to appease Nazis which had failed to prevent the World War II.

“It is unfortunate we don’t study history — appeasement historically never worked as Chamberlain’s Munich appeasement towards Nazis showed. Appeasement to avoid bloodshed in a war-weary Europe led to massive bloodshed and destruction in the form of WWII,” she tweeted.

However, Ms Mazari said that “despite sceptics and beyond despondency” she trusted Prime Minister Imran Khan “to deliver on his commitment to the rule of law, Constitution and defence of state institutions as well as to human rights guaranteed in the Constitution — not just in the present situation, but also on issues like enforced disappearances”.

TLP Twitter account blocked

In a significant move, the management of Twitter, a social networking service, on Sunday evening suspended the account associated with TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi at the request of the federal government.

Ms Mazari had earlier complained that the government had approached the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Twitter managers, but got no response. She said the PTA had been asked to take steps to block social media accounts of the leaders of the protesting religious groups, including Khadim Rizvi, “but it did not happen”. She said the information minister had informed her that Twitter had refused their request to block the accounts of the TLP leaders.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2018