MARCH 25 marked the PPP government’s four years in power. And there couldn’t have been a stronger reminder about one of its principal failures than the one provided by the protests in various parts of Punjab against long hours of loadshedding.
It couldn’t have been avoided. There were simply just too many candles for a fourth birthday.The disorder in parts of Punjab that peaked on Sunday could as yet be termed as a show of controlled aggression, a sign that things could deteriorate fast. In fact, it could well have been the biggest issue by now but for an opposition which finds it more expedient to take on the treasury over issues such as the resumption of supplies to Nato.
Tyres were burnt, and attempts at ransacking the shops made as groups of people suffering long hours without light came out again on Sunday. In Faisalabad, there were clashes when rioters tried to force shopkeepers to shut down their business.
Scattered protests took place in Lahore and the adjacent districts of Kasur and Sheikhupura. These could have been much larger rallies. They may have had the blessing of some individual politician or a party, but the orders to bind these separate groups of protesters into a single large procession ready to march are yet to be received.
Popular causes pursued openly by political parties make much more sense. One unfortunate result of these power protests lacking the ownership of a political party was that the rioters felt free to vandalise small merchandise, such as the fruit vendors and small shops in Faisalabad as well as small businesses in Lahore.
No political party can afford such negative publicity and the organisation of a protest by a brand does bring a certain disciplineand purpose to it. Even violence has to be directed against the truly deserving for it to have effect. The news reports of Sunday’s demos, supportive of the power-denied as these had to be, were no less sympathetic to the small business owners targeted by the rioters.
The protests brought to the fore groups angry yet disorganised. Absence of open backing by a political party to channel their anger into an organised push could lead to stronger, uglier shows of violence. The police were ineffective, which could encourage a repeat, even though Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited Faisalabad on Monday to educate the aggrieved on how not to conduct a just protest demonstration.
The politicians were aware, if not fully committed to the popular cause. In Lahore, Nawaz Sharif made fun of Prime Minister Gilani’s wish — he had hoped for a congratulatory happy fourth birthday message from the PML-N chief.
Mr Sharif talked about rampant corruption and hungry people. He did say something about how the time to free the people had arrived — and then he said the PML-N would ‘side with’ the people protesting against the shortage of electricity. He was ready to follow, rather than lead.
It is not too often that the opposition leader in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, gets a chance to steal a headline on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
On Sunday, as Shahbaz Sharif reminded everyone that Punjab was being discriminated against, it was Chaudhry Nisar’s call that caught the fancy of the news disseminators. He threatened a march on the presidency in case the ‘loadshedding was not ended in 24 hours. Never one to be cowed by dire calls from the opposition, when the president ‘took notice of’ the power shortage, hemade it known that the task could take up to 48 hours.
It appears that the routine is going to be repeated. Some money is going to be found to pay independent power producers, and hours of loadshedding will be reduced, for a while.
Then we are going to be told again that the circle of cash that keeps our electricity meters running has snapped, or that there is not enough water to generate hydropower or that an unreasonable legal condition or an international relations hitch ispreventing foreign benefactors from rush to our help.
What a farce this once entertaining circus has become. There are so many repeat telecasts that you can’t miss it, no matter how many hours without light you may suffer.
Everyone knows we are confronted with an even tougher summer than the one last year: less power, more to pay to Wapda. For the PPP government the more worrying aspect should be that it cannot carry on with an innocent face, blaming the lack of anadequate system, or even a future plan, to deal with the electricity shortages on the Musharraf regime.
The PPP’s shortcomings are all the more pronounced in the energy sector given the high promises it had begun its latest stint with. There has been news of some motley units added to the national grid but these do not show in the supply.
There is chaos in the power sector where the fate of the distribution agency, Pepco, hangs in balance and no one knows who isrunning the affairs and from where. The system is in a worse condition than it was when this government came in.
Just as the PPP failure in the power sector is huge, the opposition’s failure to earnestly lead the protest against the shortage of electricity has been questioned by the people at large. At long last Mian Nawaz Sharif has decided to ‘side with’ the people overloadshedding and other real issues. It is time for the mob to develop into a procession that is governed, bound and nurtured by the rules of political protest.
Trade organisations in Lahore and elsewhere have announced shutdown strikes against loadshedding and electricity tariffs. Asmall improvement is not going to pacify the people.
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.