The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced a protest at D-Chowk. Reports have surfaced that the PTI founder is displeased with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan Gandapur for not arriving in Rawalpindi. Additionally, the founder is frustrated that the protest in Rawalpindi was called off. As a result, he has expressed severe displeasure to the party leadership. After the failure of the Rawalpindi protest, the D-Chowk protest was announced for October 4. This time, the PTI founder has warned that no call will be made to end the protest, even if it takes two days to reach D-Chowk – but D-Chowk must be reached.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Gandapur is also under heavy criticism for not reaching Liaquat Bagh. To counter the criticism and clear his position, he has declared that he will not return without success. He has even gone so far as to say that if Punjab police attempt to stop him, he will take the police officers to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and deal with them in the same manner they are treating others.
From Gandapur’s tone and statements, two things are clear: first, he is facing internal party criticism for not reaching Liaquat Bagh, and second, he is under intense pressure. As a result, he may be inclined to take extreme measures. While I am not saying that the PTI founder has severely reprimanded Gandapur for not reaching Liaquat Bagh, it seems that his displeasure has been conveyed. PTI’s new spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram has denied reports of the founder calling the party chairman, Barrister Gohar, a coward, but he confirmed the protest on October 4.
The important question is: What is the PTI founder’s vision for this protest? What does he aim to achieve at D-Chowk that couldn’t be accomplished at Liaquat Bagh? From what I understand, the PTI founder wants to push the situation towards confrontation using the strength of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. This is why Gandapur has been repeatedly called to Punjab with a group of supporters.
Perhaps the PTI founder realizes that Punjab is not ready for resistance. Punjab’s PTI is not in a position to resist either, so he wants to use the political and governmental strength of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to create resistance in Punjab. His efforts have failed three times: first in Sangjani, where they faced failure; then, after anti-state speeches, the hope was that the state would react, providing political leverage, but the state’s reaction was limited, and the speeches became irrelevant. The next plan was to be stopped in Lahore, but the Punjab government opened the roads, the rally ended early, and no clash occurred. The atmosphere remained calm.
Perhaps the call for protest after ending the rally at Liaquat Bagh was made because the PTI founder realized that when rallies are allowed, the roads are opened, the rally happens, and there is no clash or fight. Hence, rallies have now been turned into protests. The plan for confrontation at Liaquat Bagh also failed, Gandapur returned, and the situation normalized. Therefore, the immediate call for D-Chowk was made. The desire and plan are to create confrontation and chaos.
The government will not allow Gandapur to reach D-Chowk. He has been ordered not to return, but to reach D-Chowk. He will be stopped, and he will resist. My information suggests he is being told to bring people capable of confronting law enforcement agencies. We have already seen at Zaman Park in Lahore when petrol bombs were thrown at police.
There were confrontations with the police, police vehicles were set on fire, and Zaman Park was turned into a no-go area. The same script appears to be in play now, where people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are being brought in prepared to fight law enforcement agencies. Against tear gas, they will throw petrol bombs and ensure clashes occur. The crane strategy has failed – cranes are helpless against tear gas shelling. So now, it appears a confrontation strategy is in place.
You might ask, if the government doesn’t want confrontation, why not allow them to reach D-Chowk? What will happen if they reach D-Chowk? One scenario is that a few thousand people reach D-Chowk, the situation turns violent, and they storm the Parliament, which is nearby. The narrative would be that the public has taken over a “fake” Parliament and will keep it occupied until real representatives are elected.
The Presidential House is also nearby, as is the Prime Minister’s House. You may recall that in 2014, there was an attempt to take over the Parliament gates. Supreme Court judges had to enter from the back gate, and there was an attempt to storm the Prime Minister’s House. This time, the target seems to be the Supreme Court. There is a fear of the Supreme Court, and they want to disrupt its functioning.
The PTI founder believes that if they reach D-Chowk, the game could shift into his hands. He wants the situation to deteriorate to such an extent that the confrontation becomes intense, lives are lost, and people take over, as was seen in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This is why Gandapur is being told repeatedly to bring people and create an atmosphere of confrontation. Severe confrontation is the real goal – the intention is to provoke the state into confrontation. The PTI founder is saying that even if it takes two or three days to reach D-Chowk, they must get there because he knows that the longer the confrontation lasts, the greater the damage. Therefore, causing maximum damage is the real objective. The Supreme Court is the main target. Previously, lawyers were called to protest outside the Supreme Court, but the numbers weren’t sufficient to take control of the Supreme Court.
However, this is not the PTI founder’s first attempt at confrontation politics. He has tried several times before but has not succeeded. Even now, he is thinking of worsening the situation to the extent that the state, particularly the establishment, is forced to release him from jail and paralyze the Supreme Court.