DHARNA

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Research Paper submitted to Ma’am Rukaiza

Research Mentor

Ma’am Rukaiza

Researchers

Asfand Kamran Chaudhry

Syed Mustafa Sajjad

Shazim Yaghman

Haseeb ul Hassan

Mashhood ur Rehman

(January, 2018)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 Declaration

 Abstract

 Introduction

 History of Dharnas

 Azadi March

 Inquilab March (PAT)

 Faizabad Dharna

 Effects of Dharna On Pakistan

 Methodology

 Participants

 Questionnaire

 Data Analysis

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 DECLARATION

The extracts from books, literature and studies used for reference extracts are

acknowledged fully and declared in references section.

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 ABSTRACT

The study examines the main Dharnas in Pakistan their causes, effects and aftermath.

It gives a brief history of Dharnas in Pakistan which started early in the 1980s when the first

major demonstration in the capital took place on July 4th and 5th of 1980 when the Shia

community marched on the capital to protest the enforcement of the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance

by former president Ziaul Haq. The Dharnas took a severe form in 2014 when PTI and PAT

conducted the Azadi March Dharna and Inquilab Dharna respectively both of which lasted for

over 4 months.

Views of different groups of people on different aspects of dharna have been recorded in form

of a questionnaire and the views of a person who attended the Faizabad dharna have been added

to bring in light his approach and source of motivation.

In the end the we analyzed that most people consider Dharnas to be a hijacking tool to get

demands fulfilled and consider it to have negative impacts on economy, foreign relations, life of

the citizens, law and order situation of the country and stability of the government.

The results have been summarized along with recommendation on how to avoid and effectively

tackle a sit in protest by negotiating and using proper law and order measures and proper

policing.

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 INTRODUCTION

A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area

for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change.

There are designated places for conducting Dharna, and a permission is required for it. Often,

those practicing dharna break the permission leading to clashes with law enforcement.

Dharna generally refers to fixing one's mind on an object. It refers to whole-heartedly pledging

toward an outcome or to inculcating a directed attitude. Dharna is consciously and diligently

holding a point of view with the intent of achieving a goal.

The word originates from the Sanskrit word dharnam.

The word was first used in English in 1793 in a news item in the newspaper The Statesman about

satyagrahis in Patna.

In Pakistan Naeem Siddiqui proposed the to use dharna politics for obtaining objectives and

latter on Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Jammat e Islami organised dharna in Pakistan in 1993, Imran

Khan, Dr.Tahir ul Qadri and other political and religious leaders are now tempting to use this

strategy for their purposes.

In recent years there has been a drastic increase in the number of dharnas or similar sit in protests

some of which became a challenging problem for the government and law and enforcement

agencies of the country .These Dharnas had a great impact on the economy, foreign relations,

repute and daily life of the citizen of the country.

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This research paper aim to analyze the main Dharnas, their causes and effects and impacts and

outcomes. It also summarizes the history of Dharnas in Pakistan along with a questionnaire

based on the views of the layman on Dharna and related aspects.

HISTORY OF DHARNAS:

It was a popular form of protest during the Indian Independence movement and part of Mahatma

Gandhi's satyagraha form of civil disobedience and protest. According to Mr Fahad (Ph.D

Pakistan Studies) a former teacher of ours Mahatma Gandhi laid the foundation of Dharna/Sit in

protests in the sub-continent.

1. The first major demonstration in the capital took place on July 4 and 5, 1980, when the Shia

community marched on the capital to protest the enforcement of the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance

by former president Ziaul Haq.The protesters, led by Shia leader Mufti Jaafar Hussain, laid siege

to the federal secretariat, effectively paralyzing the bureaucracy. It was then that the government

gave in to the protesters’ demands and declared them exempt from paying Zakat to the state.

2. Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf invoked Article 234 of the Constitution and announced

the imposition of Governor’s rule in Baluchistan province after sacking the government of

Sardar Aslam Raisani as a result of successful sit-in by Hazara Community protesting against the

indiscriminate killing of members of their community.

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  AZADI MARCH (2014) :

The Azadi march, also known as the tsunami march was a protest march in Pakistan from

14 August to 17 December 2014. The march was organized by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-

Insaf (PTI) party, opposing Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif over claims of

systematic election-rigging by the Pakistan Muslim League (N) in the 2013 general election.

Party leader Imran Khan announced plans for an August march from Lahore to Islamabad with a

group of protesters in a PTI jalsa (demonstration) in Bahawalpur on 27 June 2014. The

background of Azadi March was:

The PTI chairman called the march the final phase and defining moment of his party's protest

of electoral rigging of the 2013 elections. He announced his plan to march with a million other

protesters to the nation's capital in Islamabad to protest prime minister Nawaz Sharif's

illegitimate government, prompting analysts to call the protest the "Million March". Khan

assured the government that the march, culminating in a sit-in, would be peaceful.

Following were the demands led by protesters:

Khan and the PTI had consistently asked the government to:

 Appoint tribunals and committees to investigate electoral fraud in four constituencies

after the 2013 election.

 Investigation of how Sharif declared victory in the 11 May elections in advance.

 The role of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhary in the election; the roles played by

the caretaker government (particularly Najam Sethi), and electoral fraud in 90

constituencies.

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Over the next month, Khan's demand became more generalised and included the following

demands:

 a transparent investigation into allegations of electoral fraud in the 2013 elections;

judicial inquiries into the roles of persons named in electoral fraud, and reformation of

the electoral process (for example, the introduction of electronic voting machines) and

the Election Commission.

On these demands the Government response was:

After Khan's announcement of a protest march, the government called the PTI chief's demand

"undemocratic" and a ploy to "derail democracy". Awami National Party (ANP) provincial

general secretary and former provincial minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain expressed concern that

Khan's long march could endanger Pakistan's democracy; if the system were undermined, the

PTI chairman would be responsible.

The country faced serious economic losses by this sit-in. By 31 August, the government claimed

economic losses directly resulting from the sit-in of between Rs 500 million and Rs 800

million.] On 26 September, an adviser to the prime minister said that the losses had reached $6

billion (Rs 610 billion).

Not only economy but Educational institutes also suffered a great loss. Although educational

institutions in Islamabad were due to open after the summer holidays on 11 August 2014, they

were scheduled to remain closed until 24 August 2014. The opening date was later changed to 31

August 2014 to accommodate the ongoing protests, leading to losses in the education

sector. Most government schools remained closed; 30,000 AJK and Punjab police were housed in

public schools amidst fears that they would be used for a crackdown on sit-in participants.

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INQUILAB MARCH (PAT):

The Inqilab March was a public protest by the Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) Party occurring in

August and September 2014.

In mid-August 2014, Islamic Scholar and political figure Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri led

thousands of people, in hundreds of cars, buses and trucks towards the federal capital, Islamabad,

from the provincial capital, Lahore. Many of the protesters were his die hard but peaceful and

unarmed political workers and students from all parts of Pakistan.

Following demands were led by the protestors:

 All of these peaceful workers were demanding the lodging/registering the FIR against the

killers of Model Town Massacre*.

*It was an incident when Punjab Police killed at least 14 workers including 2 pregnant

women and injured more than 100 workers of PAT on their headquarters in Lahore on 14

June 2014 with straight fires.

 The Inqilab (Revolution) march was also aimed at the bringing down of the mega-scale

corrupt practices of the government, electoral reforms, fast and speedy justice and

facilitation of basic necessities of life to the poor unprivileged classes of Pakistan in the

wake of looting the taxpayers' money and saving in offshore havens.

Police Crackdown:

On 17 June 2014, a violent clash occurred between the Punjab Police and PAT activists resulting

in the deaths of several protesters from police gunfire.

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The march was ended by the sole decision of the party leaders of Pakistan Awami Tehreek

(PAT).

FAIZABAD DHARNA:

Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labaik of Pakistan started a protest on 5 November 2017 and

set up camp at the Faizabad Interchange contesting changes in the Elections Bill 2017 in which

the word oath changed to declaration.

 The protesters demanded the resignation of Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid to

"protect the identity of the country.

Their objective was achieved as a deal was struck with the government and the minister stepped

down on 26 November 2017 culminating in an end to the peaceful protests that continued for 20

days without harm until, despite of all the warnings given out by various religious groups about

the sensitivity of the matter, the government decided to use force against the protestors.

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EFFECTS OF DHARNA ON PAKISTAN:

 The current political situation of Pakistan in the wake of dharna tactics is bringing in a

bad name for the country. Criticism pours in as the international community denounces

such unconstitutional political ploys to hijack the legally elected political regime in the

country.

 The US ambassador in Pakistan has had official and informal meetings with different

political and religious leaders and has expressed concern over the rising chances of

anarchy.

 Pakistan is being termed a ‘mess’, where the tactics of Imran Khan and Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri

are considered nothing but part of “a shameless power grab.”

 According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), exports fell to

$3.84 billion in July-August 2014 against four billion dollars last year — a decline of 5.8

per cent. Other manufacturers declined from $3.9 billion to $3.58 billion (nine per cent

decline) with gems and jewellery declining by 72 per cent and cement by 11.5 per cent.

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METHODOLOGY:

We used mixed method approach to carry out our research work. We designed google form

which had questions related to Dharna its causes and effects, how it should be dealt and how the

situation can be resolved and is it justified in the first place or not. 69 people gave response to the

google form the results will be analyzed in the Questionnaire Analysis section. We also took an

interview from a person who attended the Faizabad Dharna which lasted days in Dec’2017.

PARTICIPANTS:

The participants who filled out the google form were mostly students along with a few employed

people in their late twenties. The person we personally interviewed is a Senior Executive Vice

President of Askari General Insurance Company Ltd., Sarfaraz Ahmad Tarar.

QUESTIONNAIRE:

The questionnaire mostly had closed ended with a few with relatively detailed answers.

Following are the questions:

Q1) Have you ever been to a Dharna?

Q2) Do you think that Dharna is the proper way to get Demands fulfilled?

Q3) In your opinion do Dharnas pose a threat to Government?

Q4) How does the Dharna affect the social life of citizens?

Q5) Should the Government use iron hand or negotiation with protesters to call off a Dharna?

Q6) Who in your view is responsible for the public property damage in a Dharna?

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DATA ANALYSIS

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 DETAILED ANSWERS

Q) In your opinion do Dharnas pose a threat to Government?

RESULT:

60% of the people said indeed Dharnas do pose threat to the governments stability while 20%

were against this view. 20% said that it entirely depends on the severity of the Dharna protest.

Q) How does the Dharna affect the social life of citizens?

RESULT

Out of the 69 responses:

55 were of the view that Dharnas influence the daily life activities of the citizens and restrict

them to their houses. Schools get closed traffic jams get really worse and social life almost shuts

down, while 14 were of the view that Dharnas have no significant effect on ones life.

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Conclusion and Recommendations:

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