Pakistan lawyers march

Organizers intend the four-day march to come to a sit-in in front of the parliament in Islamabad, on Monday. The group, numbering from 300 to 500, will join thousands of other demonstrators along the way and are calling it the “Long March.” named after Mao Zedong’s long march to beat the Kuomintang in 1927.

The authorities has replied by banning political gatherings in Punjab and Sindh. They says the march is aimed at destabilising the country and they fear the bloodshed that could occur as a result of these protests. They have already arrested at least 250 opposition activists, though some sources claim that the figure is as high as 420.

These people are all tied to the Sharif Brothers. Nawaz Sharif was banned by the Pakistani Supreme Court from holding public office due to charges laid on him by President Musharraf. His brother, Shahbaz Sharif has also been removed from his post as governor of Punjab.

The situation in Pakistan seem to be getting worse and worse every other day. This seems to be heading for the political tensions that Pakistan has occasionally that would lead ultimately to a coup by the Pakistani army.

This is also coming at the worst possible time for the whole world. Pakistan is a key player in the stabilization of neighboring Afghanistan. Should it fail as a state, there is no chance of Afghanistan succeeding as one.

There is also a shared threat of the Taliban that these two countries share. The Pakistani government has actually decided to talk to the Taliban and are on the verge of ceding the Swat Valley to them. Isn’t it sad that the Pakistani Government has decided to talk with an extremist element like the Taliban but would not negotiate with one another?!

I think there is a crisis in priority for the Pakistanis here. Pakistanis have always feared the threat coming from the East with regard to India. They have never considered Afghanistan, China or Iran being a threat to them at all. The PPP and the PML-N have always considered the biggest political threat to them is each other, not am extremist government run by the Lashkar e- Toiba, the Taliban or even Al Qaeda.

This is making elements ripe for a coup to take place. The Pakistani Army would never tolerate Pakistan being as unstable as it is and it would be a matter of time for a coup to take place should this tensions continue. I am not making these things up, one just have to look into the history books to know this.

This would undo a lot of what the West, particularly the Americans who have been pushing for the Pakistan to be a Democratic state. They had hoped that democracy would help bring about a change in Pakistan and help it grow economically and politically to combat the radical elements that originated within it.

The question now is what should the world do? Should it not do anything, there is a higher chance than not for Pakistan to fall into the hands of the Taliban or other extremists. The Americans and the West cannot do much to help in this situation as this would be a selling point of the Taliban to the people and could be counter productive. Iran is Shi’ite and Sunni Pakistan would not appreciate their help. India is something like the most hated enemy of Pakistan even though ties have warmed considerably in recent times and Afghanistan and the other central Asian states are too weak to do anything.

The country that has the most leverage in this matter would be China. China is not a Western power and is the country that helped build most of Pakistani infrastructure up. China was always used to counter-balance India’s friendship with the Soviet Union and now Russia. A lot of business in Pakistan happens because of China. China can put a voice to this and help stop the rise of militants over there.

There is also something in it for China. The same extremist mentality that gave birth to the Taliban also demands for a separate country in the Chinese state of Xinjiang. The Chinese would therefore have an interest in this and would not sit aside and watch as what it did in Sudan.

I really hope that all the fears are just that – fears. It would really be sad to see Pakistan collapse like that.

Related posts:

1. Pakistan Bleeding and why we should take note
2. Dangerous mentality in Pakistan
3. Gitmo : We told you so!
4. Taliban payout scheme…
5. Liberal slander of our military
6. Afghanistan : Pour in the troops now
7. Iran supplying the Taliban?

Tagged with: Asia • bloodshed • China • extremist • India • Long March • punjab • situation in pakistan • swat valley • taliban

Filed under: Opinion

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