Final pdf 05 October, 2020

The International News Weekly October 05, 2020 | Toronto
06
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ATAL TUNNEL OPENS
Start of a new chapter
beyond Rohtang
The inauguration of the strategically
important, all-weather Atal Tunnel in Himachal
Pradesh marks the realisation of a
decades-long project, once considered too
difficult to be implemented. The highestaltitude
tunnel in the world and one of the
longest in the country, it is nothing short
of an engineering marvel of which the Border
Roads Organisation, other agencies,
contractors and the expert workforce can
be justifiably proud. The feasibility study
was first done in 1990, 10 years before the
decision to construct the 9.02-km doublelane
tunnel below the Rohtang Pass was
taken when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the
Prime Minister.
It would take 15 minutes on an average
to travel from the south portal of the
horseshoe-shaped tunnel, located 25 km
from Manali, to the north portal in Sissu,
Lahaul valley. Designed for daily traffic
density of 3,000 cars and 1,500 trucks, it reduces
the road distance by 46 km between
Manali and Leh and the travel time by
four to five hours. The tunnel is a defining
moment for the intensive Central push towards
better border connectivity. Though
it has the potential to link Ladakh to the
rest of the country all 12 months of the
year, as it would bypass Rohtang Pass that
is snowbound during the winter, passes
like Thanglang La and Baralacha La can
still cut off road access to Leh in extreme
weather conditions.
The immediate change would be felt in
Lahaul and also Spiti valley, as the tunnel
promises to transform the winter cut-off
existence patterns. For the locals, however,
the significance of the tunnel opening
is also riddled with apprehensions of hectic
trade and business activity threatening
the traditional ways of life in the serene
and remote mountain areas. While exploring
the tunnel as a huge business opportunity
for the travel industry, the Himachal
government would face a challenging time
regulating and educating tourists. Going
by the reckless expansionist experience
in Manali, maintaining an ecological balance
and cultural sensitisation should remain
the top priority. The Tribune
HIGH STAKES IN PAKISTAN
Imran Khan will now have to deal with the
collective might of the Opposition
Tilak Devasher
The political temperature
in Pakistan has gone
up several notches with
the coming together of 11
disparate Opposition parties
in an all parties conference
(APC) on September
20. The meeting was
notable for Nawaz Sharif’s
aggressive speech from
London, as also the formation
of the Pakistan Democratic
Movement (PDM)
with an agenda to unseat
the ‘selected’ government
of Imran Khan. Nawaz
Sharif has posed the question
and set the narrative
that will dominate Pakistan
politics in the immediate
future: should the
elected representatives
rule the country or the establishment.
The Opposition had
been struggling for the
last two years to forge a
strategy against the Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf government
of Imran Khan.
The example of Jamait-i-
Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana
Fazlur Rehman being
left alone when he staged
a dharna in Islamabad
in 2019 was one example
of divisions within it. A
major factor that brought
the Opposition together
was Imran’s intolerance
towards them, in fact, towards
any form of dissent
as well as his arrogance.
As a result, a large number
of Opposition leaders
have been in and out of
jails or have faced trials
in one-sided accountability
cases. Another critical
factor was that the Opposition
would lose its majority
in the Senate in March,
foreclosing any chance of
checking the government
in parliament and further
narrowing the space for it
to operate.
In his speech to the
APC, Nawaz stated boldly
that there was ‘a state
above the state in the
country’, and that the Opposition’s
struggle was
against a ‘parallel state’
that had imposed an incapable
person on the
country through a rigged
election process. The APC
demanded Imran’s immediate
resignation, failing
which the PDM would
launch a three-phased programme
of protests and
rallies, culminating in a
long march to Islamabad
in January 2021. The first
protest is slated for October
11 in Quetta. Unlike
the past two years, where
the individual Opposition
parties attacked the government,
now the Opposition’s
struggle would be
directly against the establishment
in which the protests
against Imran would
be a façade.
Nawaz had been silent
for the past two years during
which the Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz
(PMLN) had veered towards
the accommodating
politics of Shahbaz Sharif,
which did not achieve
anything in terms of letup
in the persecution of
the party. Nawaz’s hardline
articulation signalled
the end to the policies of
accommodation. Henceforth,
his daughter Maryam
would call the shots
in the party in Pakistan
and he himself will set
the agenda from London.
The APC’s 26-point resolution
that called for ‘end of
establishment’s interference
in politics’ vindicated
his position.
The Opposition has
passed the first test — of
coming together. The real
test of staying together
and choosing a leader of
the PDM comes next, especially
since most of the
parties have a history of
bad blood and mutual rivalries
and have, in the
past, fallen prey to the
establishment’s machinations.
The other big
test would be to translate
the APC rhetoric and action
plan into an effective
movement within and outside
parliament. Maulana
Fazlur Rehman and his
madrasa-based students
and religious cadres will
play a crucial role in such
mobilisation. Failure to
establish and sustain a
strong physical presence
on the streets would make
the speeches and action
plan meaningless.
Imran’s government
stands on a weak wicket
largely because of his
failure on practically every
front, including providing
good governance.
The economy, which was
already on a slippery
slope, has been battered
by the impact of Covid-19.
Growth has slipped into
the negative territory.
Thus, even though it has
underplayed Opposition
unity, a lot of the government’s
attention henceforth
would get diverted
to their protests, further
adversely impacting governance.
Government statements
both before and
after the APC, calling it
anti-Pakistan, betrayed a
sense of panic. Imran held
that speeches against the
government and state institutions
were an attempt
to appease the Indian lobby
and that the Opposition
wanted to create a rift between
the government and
the armed forces.
Since the government
was unable to contain
the fallout of the APC,
the army jumped into the
fray with a series of media
leaks and statements in
order to create rifts in the
political alliance. These
included disclosures made
by DG ISPR on a private
TV channel about two
meetings held by PMLN
leader Mohd Zubair with
the army chief, thus trying
to discredit the party.
However, leaks about the
meetings, instead of diluting
the impact of Nawaz’s
speech or of the APC, only
strengthened their validity.
The combined government/establishment
strategy would be to create
obstacles to ensure
the Opposition is unable
to conduct successful and
well-attended rallies. Measures
would include arrest
of key Opposition leaders,
denying permission for
rallies and venues, engineering
splits in parties
and between parties, etc.
However, they would have
to contend with the combined
political and cadre
strength of a three-time
PM with a strong base in
Punjab and the street power
of the Maulana in the
other provinces.
Ultimately, the fallout
of the APC will be less a
test for the Opposition
as for Pakistan. What is
at stake is the future of a
functioning democracy.
If the Opposition falters
or breaks ranks, the establishment
would have
won and Pakistan can bid
farewell to a functioning
democracy for the foreseeable
future. If the Opposition
stays the course, it
would still find it difficult
to prise the establishment
away from political interference
but at least a functioning
democracy would
have a fighting chance.
The die has been cast
and the stakes for Pakistan
are high. In this, Imran
finds himself on the
wrong side of the equation.!
Source Credit: This article
was first published in The Tribune.
The writer is Member,
National Security Advisory
Board.
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