By Salman Siddiqui
The Pakistani community in Qatar has expressed concern at the ongoing political crisis unfolding in their country where street protests to oust Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have turned violent.
Sharif’s one-year-old elected government has been facing its biggest crisis yet as cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf and cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehrik brought out thousands of their supporters out on the streets of Islamabad since early August, demanding that the prime minister resign immediately on account of election fraud.
Majority of the Pakistani expatriates whom Gulf Times spoke to conveyed their “disgust” at the ugly turn of events, which has resulted in injuries to scores of people in clashes between activists and law-enforcement authorities. They also expressed their disappointment and disillusionment with the leadership of Imran Khan, whom they all hoped would one day deliver on his promise to create a “new” Pakistan.
Mazhar Iqbal, who hails from Swabi and works as a professional translator in Qatar, said that Imran Khan needed to learn that change didn’t come overnight and took years of struggle. He hoped that the Pakistani army generals would not interrupt the flow of democracy on the pretext of saving the country in its “supreme national interest” like they did in the past.
“Democracy must and should always prevail despite all the madness,” he said.
He added that all sides were to blame for the terrible crisis in Pakistan. “However, Imran Khan shares the bigger part of the blame. He had repeatedly incited violence and even now he is calling on his supporters to pick fights with the authorities. I don’t think this is a role of a political leader.”
Doha-based freelance journalist Hafsa Adil said that while Imran Khan had a right to protest against alleged rigging in Pakistan’s last general election, his “stubbornness” and the manner in which he conducted his protest might harm the entire country politically.
She hoped that army wouldn’t take over in Pakistan. “I don’t think the army will take over and it shouldn’t, for the sake of the entire country and its own interests.”
Asrar Ahmed, who works at a leading bank in Doha, said that the cricket legend came across as someone who talked too idealistically and he wouldn’t trust a man like him to become the next prime minister.
“Actually, I support Pakistan army intervention in the present crisis. I’m sure that if the army took over today, the situation would improve considerably,” Ahmed said.
He said that in the past, when Gen Musharraf took over in a coup in Pakistan in 1999, the country progressed economically. “I remember there was a huge boom in banking and many other key sectors. I was just a fresh MBA graduate and yet I had so many job options. There was massive growth and investment in the private and public sector and people had jobs. Now there is just despair everywhere,” Ahmed added.
Hamza, who works for a telecom giant in Doha, said that he was “hugely disappointed” with Imran Khan. “People had such high hopes, but look at what Khan has done to our country. He could have achieved great things without resorting to violence. In fact, he had achieved many of his demands, including the one about electoral reforms, but now it seems that all the gains made are lost.”
Hamza said that he was also disappointed with Nawaz Sharif whom he had voted for in the past. “Although his party has done a lot of infrastructure development in Lahore from where I belong and in Punjab province overall, they have failed to provide justice to their people,” he added.
Mohamed Ismail, who hails from Balochistan and works as a cobbler in Doha’s Najma area, had his own pearls of wisdom about the current crisis in Pakistan. “You reap what you sow. Imran Khan said he will create a new Pakistan. Well maybe this is it,” he said.
