The PDM has announced to hold a long march to Islamabad in the last week of January in its bid to topple Imran Khan’s government. The opposition-led alliance that has been campaigning against the government failed to come up with any final date and instead decided to march to the federal capital in the last stage after holding protests and rallies.
The nation has witnessed several long marches in the past decade or more with varying degrees of success. It has now become the norm for political and religious parties to march to Islamabad as the final solution to their demands.
In 2007, the popular Lawyers’ Movement calling for the restoration of the judiciary after the suspension of then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry marched to Islamabad. The movement eventually turned into a protest against military dictator General Musharraf. The protests continued for over two years even though fresh elections were held and Musharraf was deposed until eventually the superior judiciary was restored.
In January 2013, cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri held a long march from Lahore to Islamabad and staged a sit-in for three days in a bullet-proof container calling for electoral reforms and dissolution of the parliament. The protests were called off after Qadri negotiated with the PPP government.
In 2014, the PTI launched the Azadi march over alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections. The protests remain etched in our memories as PTI joined by Tahir-ul-Qadri camped outside parliament for a record 126 days demanding the dismissal of the government and snap elections. The event was cancelled after the APS terrorist attack but the PTI continued its momentum till the next elections.
Since then, we have witnessed other political and religious parties move to Islamabad to press for their demands. There was chaos after a group who come to attend the funeral of Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of former Punjab Governor, marched to Islamabad and refused to leave. The government decided to restrict protests to the federal capital particularly the parliament.
Now the PDM has decided to march to Islamabad as the last resort to oust the PTI government. It will certainly be an arduous task and a huge logistical and political challenge. As the past has seen, the results are also not guaranteed. For the residents of the federal capital, it would be déjà vu all over again as they would once again to brave the disturbance to their lives.
