Special report about dharna (Sit in) & protests in Pakistan & world

                                                                                                                                                               From the desk of Sadid Quraishi

                                                                           

    Special report about dharna (Sit in) protests in Pakistan & around the world 

PART I        Protests against govt in Pakistan 

 We will talk about protests and sit in of Pakistan which brought changes in governments and other ideological and social institutions

1. Fall of Ayub Khan

 The National Student Federation (NSF) launched protests in major cities against President Ayub Khan decade rule.

  On 7th November 1968, police fired at a student rally in Rawalpindi, which resulted in the deaths of three students and fired up the protests against the government. 

  Students were joined by political opponents. Ayub Khan subsequently lost help of the military establishment as well and in the face of the strong opposition, had to resign in March 1969, shifting the command to Yahya Kha

   2.  Division of Pakistan due to Bhutto s slogan “edhar hum udhar “            

§  After general elections, Mujib of Dhaka won the elections but Zulfikar Ali Bhutto caused the detachment of Pakistan by not accepting the Mujib lead and caused detachment of East and West Pakistan. Z. Bhutto became new leader of Pakistan.

   3.   Movement against Z .Bhutto  

§  Pakistan National Alliance  (PNA) ’s movement was also initiated due to election rigging     

§  Z .Bhutto’s PPP won the general elections of 1977 with a majority. However, the elections followed the allegations of rigging from different parties. He had been thrown out by unrest in the country. Military rule came with about decade of Gen.Zia ‘s authority.   

    4.Long March against Nawaz Sharif by Benazir Bhutto

§  In 1992, the late Benazir Bhutto announced a long march against the government of Nawaz Sharif, leveling allegations of corruption and also dubbing the 1990 elections “rigged”. The long march that took place in November 1992 thsaw the participation of various renowned leaders including Qazi Hussain Ahmad (Jamiat e Islami), Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and Muhammad Khan Junejo (Muslim League)

§  However, the Sharif government using state power cracked down on it and arrested several leaders. The late governor Salman Taseer was also amongst the prisoners of this march and was reportedly tortured by the police. This march could not achieve anything significant and was successfully suppressed by the government. However, Benazir threatened to march towards Islamabad with thousands of supporters again in 1993. By this time, corruption of the Sharif government was criticized in many circles.

§  Upon the increase in pressure from the opposition and a fall in popular support for Nawaz Sharif, the army chief Abdul Waheed Khan showed him the curtains as Sharif resigned in July 1993.

5   Lawyers Protest Against Govt.

§  In 2008, the lawyers’ community took to the streets when General Musharraf deposed the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and sixty other judges. The long march of 2008 was mainly a display of activism by the civil society.

§  Although massively attended, it could not achieve the restoration of judges but caused weakness in presidency.

6. Nawaz Sharif against Zardari

§  In 2009, a second long march was announced during the government of Asif Ali Zardari for the same purpose, however this time Nawaz Sharif decided to lead the march from Lahore.

Part II     Dr.Qadri & Imran Khan sit in for  Nawaz ouster.

Qadri came to Islamabad  (first darhna )

The intellectual of Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Dr. Tahirul Qadri, did the most modern display of street power. With a complete overhaul of the electoral system and the end of the government of Pakistan Peoples Party on his agenda, Qadri marched on the capital with thousands of his supporters and staged a sit-in for a few days. However, the sit-in was called off after successful negotiations between Qadri and team of government’s representatives but Zardari back off from his commitment.

Qadri came to Islamabad again for second darhna,

PTI chief Imran Khan followed Qadri.

In hot sunny days and cold rainy nights, toffani conditions, blizzard, flood, lightning, hurricane followers of Qadri and Khan are in this sit in (dharna)  since august 2014 .   

Part III  Some successful sit in movements of the world                        

1. Successful African Movement

The back to Africa movement was not success of a financial venture  for African American migrating back to the land of the ancestors in a settlement in Liberia.

2.The movment to protect workers 

The emergences of influential unions were of great benefit to workers in many industrial countries. The unions helped workers to get better wages and health benefits.

 3.Sit-in movement of Greensboro.

Within a month from their original sit in at Woolworths, all Woolworths cafes ended segregation in four college students from Greensboro.

 4. Civil Rights Movement

If the civil rights movement was successful he would have given freedom and equality to all African-American's who were subject to harsh racism.  

  

5. The movement to protect workers.

  

The emergences of influential unions were of great benefit to workers in many industrial countries. The unions helped workers to get better wages and health benefits

6. Women s rights movement

Very successful after awhile because people started to believe and understand where the women were coming from.