Islamabad: Pakistan’s decision to “humiliantingly” capitulate to Islamists to end street protests amounted to “abject submission to lawbreakers and non-state actors”, said a Pakistani commentator in remarks published on Wednesday.
“There has hardly been an instance where the State has capitulated so humiliatingly to a group of extremists holding the nation’s capital hostage,” Zahid Hussain said in a commentary published in the Dawn newspaper.
“The six-point agreement brokered by the military leadership is virtually a document of surrender.
“A beleaguered civilian administration has signed on the dotted line conceding all the demands of clerics named in what is described as the Fourth Schedule of the police department or the extremist watch list,” it said.
The government on Monday agreed to virtually all the demands of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) to persuade it to end six weeks of violent street protests on the Rawalpindi-Islamabad highway.
The group had been protesting against accusations of blasphemy over a proposed change in parliamentary laws.
Hussain said: “Not only has the Law Minister been forced to resign, those involved in attacks on the law enforcement agencies and engaged in unlawful activities are also to be compensated.” The cases against the rioters have been withdrawn.
“All claims about the rule of law and authority of the state were cast to the wind in order to appease a few thousand zealots,” Hussain said.
“Most intriguing is that a senior ISI officer is also a signatory to the sordid deal along with the Interior Minister. It is hard to recall another instance of an intelligence official involved in brokering a deal between the government and extremists.”
Hussain said the footage widely telecast on private TV channels of the Punjab Rangers chief distributing cash to the protesters and allowing them to take selfies with him was nauseating.
“The authority of the state has seldom been so compromised. It was not just appeasement but abject submission to the lawbreakers and the non-state actors that has undermined the legitimacy of the civil administration…
“The shameful capitulation has further reinforced the perception of Pakistan becoming hostage to violent extremists.”
—IANS