The precedent was set long ago. The success of long marches has already been tested and passed. Here's an article from 2012 when NS threatened Zardari with one.
A political timeline of long marches in Pakistan - thenews.com.pk
LAHORE: If former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif decides to implement words into actions and carry out his anticipated long march against the sitting Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led government in the coming days, it will mark the fifth such exercise of conducting long marches in the country ís short but chequered history since 1947.
While two of Pakistanís famous long marches were organised by another former prime minister ñ in this case the late Benazir Bhutto on November 16 1992 and July 16 1993 respectively during Nawaz Sharif’s first stint in power after the Opposition dubbed the 1990 elections as ìrigged,î two more painstaking initiatives were also undertaken in the not-so-distant past with the objective of establishing an independent judiciary through the restoration of deposed judges including the incumbent Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. In all the above-mentioned cases, the culminating point of these exercises was Constitution Avenue, Islamabad.
Of the two long marches held for the supremacy of the countryís judiciary, one less fruitful exercise was spearheaded by the country’s legal fraternity against the Musharraf-led government in mid-March 2008 while another similar step was taken by Nawaz Sharif very successfully on March 15 2009 against President Asif Zardari and Prime Miniter Yusuf Raza Gilani for the same cause.
It is imperative to recall that back on February 25 2009, the Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar-led Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, only to pave the way for the imposition of governor-rule in Punjab with the late Salman Taseer at the helm of affairs.
Although Nawaz Sharif was placed under house arrest on March 15 2009, the police on guard somehow ìmysteriouslyî disappeared hours later after an angry crowd gathered outside the PML-N leaderís Model Town Lahore residence. Sharif suddenly found himself free and instantly opted to lead a march towards Islamabad, but his journey was halted at night by ìsome important telephone callsî from the capital just as he reached Gujranwala. The ìscripted yet bizarre mysteryî was solved the next morning when in a televised speech on March 16 2009, Prime Minister Gilani promised to reinstate the chief justice, and as a consequence Nawaz Sharif was forced to call off his widely-televised long march.
Dipping further back into the pages of history, while Benazir Bhutto’s first long march in November 1992 failed to achieve her desired purpose, her second attempt reaped rewards as both Nawaz Sharif and the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan were shown the door by Army Chief General Waheed Kakar.
The November 1992 long march witnessed the participation of various key political leaders including the late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, the late Muhammad Khan Junejo, the late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Gauhar Ayub Khan, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo and Hamid Nasir Chattha among other. It was during this particular long march that PPP’s Khalid Javed Ghurki (husband of sitting federal minister Sameena Ghurki) and Salman Taseer (both now deceased), were reportedly tortured at the behest of the Sharifs, while the likes of Aitzaz Ahsan, Jahengir Badr and Ghulam Mustafa Khar were subjected to a relatively ìlenient and friendlyî treatment behind bars.
It should also be recalled that that on April 18 1993, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan had dismissed the government of Nawaz Sharif on charges of corruption and went so far as to dissolve the National Assembly as well. Though new elections were scheduled for July 1993 under the caretaker regime of Premier Balakh Sher Mazari, Chief Justice Nasim Hassan Shah ruled that the president’s actions were unconstitutional and promptly restored Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on May 26 1993.
Following several weeks of political turmoil and a threat by PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto to march on Islamabad with hundreds of thousands of supporters, Army Chief General Abdul Waheed then ìconvincedî the sitting president and prime minister to resign in quick succession on July 18 1993. The National Assembly was subsequently dissolved and Moeen Qureshi was sworn in as the caretaker prime minister, while general elections were scheduled for October 6 1993.
Benazir Bhutto and her Peopleís Party consequently won the October 6 1993 polls by a narrow margin. While the PPP had emerged triumphant in 86 out of the 217 National Assembly seats, Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League managed to win in 72 constituencies. Benazir’s party could not therefore win the 109 seat majority required for automatic selection as the country’s premier, resulting in a confidence vote on October 19 1993. However, she still managed to be elected as the countryís prime minister (121 to 72 votes) to head a minority government.
The world history of long marches is 78-years old. Archives and history books reveal that during the eventful 1934-36 famous Long March in China, Mao Zedong was the key leader on the forefront. Encyclopaedia Britannica states, ìThe 6,000-mile (10,000-km) historic trek of the Chinese communists resulted in the relocation of the communist revolutionary base from south-eastern to north-western China and in the emergence of Mao Zedong as the undisputed party leader. Fighting Nationalist forces under Chiang Kai-shek throughout their journey, the communist troops crossed 18 mountain ranges and 24 rivers to reach the northwestern province of Shaanxi. The heroism attributed to the Long March [also] inspired many young Chinese to join the Chinese Communist Party during the late 1930s and early 1940s.”
