The Kyrgyzstan Model?

Are we [in Pakistan] heading towards an anarchy? Or are we just in the middle of one? Lets have a look:

1. Army is already busy in an almost full scale war in the traditionally safe and secure western border areas (talking of the border tribal belt itself). Much worse they are fighting within the borders. The insurgents/miscreants are after all the citizens of Pakistan and the "collateral damage" kills our own innocent people and ruins the country's infrastructure. When the army men lay their lives, it weakens our own army and the thought of killing a Muslim brother demoralizes our men (especially in lower ranks), who are motivated by the concept of 'Jihad'. Not to mention the issues of IDPs and the hatred that is bred by such operations in the hearts of local population. Military operation might have been inevitable but we are yet to see its required outcome and pacification of the local population (our brethren) for whatever material and emotional damages they suffered. 
2. Those tribal areas in which our own army is not engaged, the ever notorious US drones are operating and killing the ones spared by the ground forces. Just goes on to add insult to injury. 
3. Move a little up north in the same region and we have a new kind of upheaval. There are people who are out to prove Shakespeare wrong, "Whats in a name". Ask someone living in Hazara [division] and he/she will tell you, its all about the name. Rest of their province is celebrating the change of name [of their province] from NWFP to Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa. 
4. Then lets take into account the cities of Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore and few others at the same time. Here the bravadoes, from those areas mentioned in the first paragraph, equipped with twisted religious interpretations and lots of explosives go for bombing sprees that kill security forces men and the innocent civilians alike. 
5. Then we have a local version of IRA .. which we call BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army). 
6. To add further spice we have an acute shortage of electricity. On one hand it is ruining the business, industry, employment opportunities, peace of mind and smooth running of daily lives, on the other hand it is tarnishing the image of government and deeming it as a failed entity. Thirdly it has also brought the angry common people on the streets. 
7. Things were already quite "smooth" when our "beloved" neighbor also jumped in to "lend a hand". They are blocking the waters of our rivers by building .. DAM[N]s. Resultantly we are having a short fall of irrigation water as well. It also aggravates the power crisis.
8. Soon we are going to have a new wave of inflation when a proposed 15% VAT on products across the board and 6% rise in electricity prices comes into effect. The streets will be filled with protesters again. I mean those streets that were spared by an insurgency, bomb blast, celebration/protest for/against the name of a province, bomb blast, protest against shortage of essentials (other than oxygen), bomb blast, protest just for the heck for it, bomb .......

In above paragraphs I have listed some of the most major and mostly internal problems that come to the mind of an ordinary Pakistani. Not to mention the more deeper and complex issues at the national and foreign fronts. Now if we consider the uprising in Kyrgyzstan it was mainly due to rise in heating and electricity tariff, coupled with usual ills of corruption and nepotism. Whereas is Pakistan we have multiple issues. Issues that are much more complex, deeper and grave. Hence we can safely conclude that Pakistan is NOT heading towards a Kyrgyzstan-like uprising. Being a nation of creative, sovereign, original and independent people we'll do something in our own right. (باقی الله خیر ہی کرے - آمین )

At Imran Khan's Rally

On the eve of 3rd July, 2009, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) organized a protest rally on the monumental Mall Road (Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam) of Lahore.
protest was against acute power shortage, a sudden rise of prices in petroleum products (that will trigger an across the board price hike) and unemployment. The issues are indeed the most burning ones faced by Pakistan today. I'm sorry but terrorism, religious extremism, Talibanization etc. does hurt me but NOT as much as these things do. A suicide bomber is a real threat but he would rather kill me in an instant, however the above stated issues will leave me lurching somewhere between life and death, a much more painful ordeal. To get killed by a bomber is NOT a priority here .. its plain sarcasm. But lets leave that debate for a later occasion.

I later learnt that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) also organized similar rally on that very day at about the same location, few hours before this particular event. PTI and JI are two political groups that opted to boycott last years' general elections. It is good to see that they are playing their role in national politics one way or the other. I wish these political forces join hands for these issues and make a united front to get them resolved, just like they did for the "Chief Justice" issue.

Anyhow coming back to the rally. The rally was properly organized and had lot of party workers and a representation of women too. However, one thing which I was looking for and was utterly lacking was the educated youth and the white collar middle class. The workers present there were the typical paid party workers. Not saying that they shouldn't be there but my image of PTI was a bit different. A friend of mine who is a party member and comes from an educated background was there at the rally but he too was watching the event from the sidelines like me. But lets not draw any conclusions from these observations at this point in time.

Imran Khan joined in the rally later on and as is natural the crowds were electrified by his presence. The procession then marched on towards WAPDA House where Imran Khan had to make a speech. The numbers out there in the procession were quite plausible. According to my most conservative estimate there were 2 to 3 thousand people in that rally. News items from national dailies about the event are also attached.

The News

Express News