I suspect that there’s an overuse of the term ‘red line’. It only started during the movement by the PTI against the government, when it had just ousted Imran Khan as PM, and was about to arrest him. That was when someone got the bright idea of saying “Imran Khan hamari red line hai” (Imran Khan is our red line). That was the time when Imran was holed up in his Zaman Park residence, after he had been bailed by the Supreme Court after he was arrested on 9 May 2023 in Islamabad. That was the time when a police party from Islamabad couldn’t arrest him, when teargas shells were lobbed back from inside the compound, and the PTI tried to save Imran from arrest.
Pne suspects the term was given currency by Barack Obama, when referring to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, but in Pakistan it seems to have become personalized. It originally meant something one party would regard as intolerable.
Imran Khan was the first red line, and PTI supporters regarded his arrest as intolerable. Actually, his opponents regard him as intolerable.
However, the first party to declare anyone else a red line was when Farooq Sattar was declared their red line by MQM (P) workers worried by his failure to emerge from 90 Azizabad after he had gone there to negotiate with Altaf loyalists. In fact, there was a bit of an argybargy, which ended after Farooq Sattar emerged, but not before slogans were exchanged, including the redline one.
However, now we’ve had the slogan raised by activists of the Baloch Yakjehti Council, who’ve declared Dr Mehrang Baloch their red line. That was perhaps the weirdest use of the term, for it was not used to avoid her arrest, but to protest it. Till date, she remains arrested. So does Imran, but that is a much longer story.
I wonder if those protesting the arrest of Akrem Imamoglu, the Mayor of Istanbul and the Opposition’s probable candidate for President in next year’s election, have used the term. There are certainly a lot of protesters. So far, no one has asked Iran what he makes of the whole affair. On the one hand, he’s probably angry that they dared bring corruption charges without his permission. On the other hand, he must be upset that no one has noticed that an opposition leader like him has been arrested. Anyway, about 1100 have been arrested over the crossing of the red line.
Once the issue of corruption in Turkey has been addressed, perhaps he can address that of terrorism in Balochistan. Of course, Imran will probably blame that on corruption too. Imran would probably be pleased with the fuss that has been created by the PTI boycott of the National Security Committee meeting. If the PTI had gone, it would have got less publicity. However, now the matter seems to be heading in the right direction. PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi has been put in charge of a committee to examine the question, has proving the contention that the problem is the desire of the Baloch people to master the art of reverse swing. So Imran’s input becomes all the more necessary.
Meanwhile, there are other pressing problems. We’ve got a drought coming. What implications does that have for water supply? In summer, it seems, the plan is to make it impossible to walk the streets of the city, and to give new pungency (literally) to the term Great Unwashed.
Don’t think it’s only summer that has been arranged for. Amid all the chortling and bottle-popping over the successful passage of the IMF review, did anyone notice that we agreed to a carbon levy, which means putting up the price of gas? That means that water, restored after the drought, will have to be used unheated. Expect Lahore’s crowds to be as hard on the nose this winter as they are in summer.
FOOTNOTE TO THESE NOTES: At the time of writing, it is still Ramazan, but as the Arab countries are marking Eid on Sunday. So someone should see the moon here, as well as have a CNIC, so that you are probably reading these notes on Eid Day. Whether or not you are in The Village, Happy Eid!
