WITH emotions running high, chaos closes in. As these words were being written, rumours and speculation were all there were to go by as the citizenry wondered what exactly was unfolding in Islamabad.

With the electronic media kept from doing its job, it remained difficult for most to separate fact from fiction. We do know that two extraordinary meetings between PTI leaders and the party’s incarcerated founder, Imran Khan, arranged on late Monday night, came to nought.

And, defying all predictions and the government’s war-like preparations to keep them out of the federal capital, crowds of charged PTI supporters finally managed to enter Islamabad in the early hours of Tuesday. Before the protesters broke through the city’s container defences, skirmishes between marchers and security personnel, as well as other incidents, resulted in several deaths. At least three Rangers personnel, several police officers, and two protesters lost their lives. Countless others were injured.

Meanwhile, on social media, partisan ‘analysts’ and opinion makers competed for attention, with one side portraying the events as nothing short of a revolution while the other celebrated reports that the army had been called in, apparently with orders to shoot on sight. As their war of words accelerated to alarming levels, the authorities failed to keep temperatures down.

While statements from the police chiefs of Punjab and Islamabad had remained needlessly confrontational, the interior minister made matters worse when he declared that “five minutes of firing” by security forces would force the protesters to disperse. Shortly after, there were reports that live rounds had indeed been used at one of the blockades, injuring several protesters. A little later, a fast-moving vehicle ran over several security personnel, causing multiple deaths and injuries. These events may not necessarily have been connected, but they did make such statements look unwise in retrospect.

It was clear by Tuesday afternoon that matters were slipping out of the government’s hands. While the interior minister blamed a “hidden force” for the PTI’s surprising advances, one wondered what came of the more than 20,000 security personnel and the equipment that had been requisitioned to keep the party out of Islamabad. Rumours swirled of backdoor negotiations in Islamabad, and there was danger that things could spiral out of control when the protesters forced themselves into D-Chowk, though they were subsequently pushed back.

It was unclear how much control the PTI leadership had over the crowd that had marched on Islamabad and how far they would exercise that control if their goals remained unmet. Still, one hopes that this stand-off will be resolved through politics and dialogue. Compromises will be necessary to avoid further confrontation and violence; it is up to the PTI leadership and the government to find a way out.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2024