Maulana's march.

TENSIONS are mounting as Maulana Fazlur Rehman's Azadi march is expected to reach the capital today.

The government granted permission to the JUI-F chief to hold his sit-in within the precincts of the city, and an expanse of land a few kilometres from Zero Point has been designated as the venue for the congregation. The march that commenced from Karachi has ballooned into sizable numbers as it travels north through Sindh into Punjab and onwards to Islamabad.

Mercifully, so far there have not been any reports of disturbances or disruptions to the life of citizens, and the organisers of the march have kept their word about remaining peaceful and orderly.

Yet the real test begins as the marchers enter the capital and Maulana Fazlur Rehman unveils his plans for the dharna. Protest is his democratic right and as a citizen of Pakistan, he is fully within the ambit of the law in exercising his right. After all, this is what the PTI argued when staging a dharna on Islamabad's D-chowk in 2014.

It is in fact a good decision by the PTI government to allow the JUI-F chief to bring his supporters unhindered as per the agreement signed between the party and the Islamabad administration. If both stick to this agreement, the protesters should stage a sit-in at the designated venue, voice their protests, air their grievances and then disperse peacefully without causing any civic disturbance.

Any action beyond this would be considered undemocratic - as it was during the PTI-PAT dharna, and later the TLP protest, when violence and major disruptions to...