'Jail Bharo Tehreek' history in Pakistan
Pakistan
'Jail Bharo Tehreek' history in Pakistan
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Multiple instances in Pakistan’s history reflect that “Jail Bharo Tehreek” was being launched against the governments to pressurise them.
In the first instance, political parties coalesced to form the “Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD)” in 1981 to restore democracy and denounce Zia ul Haq's martial law. The MRD staged Jail Bharo Tehreek against the then president Zia ul Haq which saw the participation of thousands of people including lawyers, political workers, and others which were arrested later. The MRD staged the movement for the second time in 1986 with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the leading role. However, it failed to achieve its objective but it managed to provide fragile support to democracy.
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In the second instance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) president Qazi Hussain Ahmad threatened the then government under the premiership of Shaukat Aziz to announce Jail Bharo Tehreek if the MMA’s protest of Nov 28, 2004, was interrupted anyway. However, the MMA could not materialize the threat.
When the alliance of the PPP, the ANP, the JI, and other parties took to the streets against the emergency imposed by Parvez Musharraf (now dead), the house arrest of late Benazir Bhutto, and de-notifying judges, the police arrested over 100 protestors which the PPP responded by incepting the Jail Bharo Tehreek. Moreover, five ANP workers presented themselves at Kot Ghulam Muhammad police station for voluntary arrest.
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The country heard the voices of Jail Bahro Tehreek for the fourth time in 2018 when the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) emir Ashraf Jalali announced the Tehreek to take off on Jan 27 if its demands for the resignation of the then Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, publicizing Raja Zafar ul Haq’s report, and compensation for the TLP workers “martyred” in Tehreek-e-Kahtam-e-Nabuwwat were not met.
Recently, PTI chief Imran Khan announced the Tehreek to take off on Feb 22, 2023 from Lahore against the incumbent government’s lacklustre response to its demand for holding general elections in the country. It merits mention that Mr Khan had announced the Tehreek earlier at a PTI rally held on Oct 08, 2022 in Mianwali too.
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A bird's eye view of the movements in history suggests that all the movements failed to garner the attention of the government and have their demands met. Let’s see how far the movement goes this time.
