Tahir ul Qadri throws spanner in Pakistani Politics

Daredevil

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Dr Tahir ul Qadri, a moderate cleric with a large following, has droned into Pakistan from Canada with a big bang and is threatening to unleash a firestorm in Islamabad shortly. The MQM, a fair weather friend, is backing the good doctor to the hilt. What's going on?

Dr Qadri is a dual Pak-Canadian national. By law he cannot contest the Pakistan elections. He says he hasn't renounced his Canadian nationality because he hasn't yet decided to contest the general elections. Yet he has made bold to gather hundreds of thousands of his Minhaj ul Quran followers in Lahore to demand impossible electoral reforms in the next fifteen days, failing which he intends to congregate a million-strong gathering outside parliament and protest.

Dr Qadri argues that if Benazir Bhutto could threaten a long march in 1992-3 and provoke the military to oust Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and if Nawaz Sharif could use the same tactics in 2009 to get the military to help restore the judges, why shouldn't he follow in their footsteps for the cause of establishing a truly independent and neutral caretaker government with input from the military and judiciary? It doesn't bother him that most caretaker governments to date have been cobbled together by the military - 1988 and 1990 by COAS General Aslam Beg, 1993 by COAS General Waheed Kakar and 1999 by COAS General Pervez Musharraf - and not one could measure up to the neutrality criteria set by Dr Qadri. Therefore conspiracy theories are afoot about his real agenda.

Dr Qadri is primarily responsible for creating this perception. He has quoted provisions of the constitution that enable a delay in elections if necessary and criteria for qualification to contest them. By such reckoning, however, most candidates nominated by the two mainstream parties will not be good enough Muslims to qualify. He has also cited the establishment of a caretaker government of technocrats in democratic Italy for a significant period of time as one way forward. But he has neglected to mention one critical fact of divergence: the technocratic Mario Monti government in Italy that lasted 13 months and quit last week was ushered in at the behest of a sitting parliament with the approval of all the parties to carry out hard tax and not electoral reforms before elections, whereas Dr Qadri's formula seeks such a caretaker government without parliament and without the approval of the mainstream parties. The bigger irony is that Dr Qadri wants to stop certain types of people from entering parliament, yet he himself is not yet eligible to contest for public office.

Questions are also being asked about the source of his funds. He claims that his motivated supporters in Pakistan and abroad have donated for the cause. Cynical Pakistanis are inclined to disbelieve him. Naturally, too, the two mainstream parties insist he is a front man for the military establishment that is seeking excuses to postpone the elections and thwart the PPP or the PMLN from returning to power.

Dr Qadri has retracted slightly from his original posturing because of such hard questions. He is now insisting that he doesn't want a postponement of elections on any pretext nor is he seeking a "direct" military intervention. But he is sticking to his impossible demands for electoral rightsizing and neutral and upright caretaker governments in the next two weeks and is readying his popular forces for an assault on Islamabad.

The PPP government is on track for negotiating caretaker arrangements with the PMLN in time for a May general election. But Dr Qadri has thrown a spanner in the works by rejecting their constitutional right to determine the issue.

The PPP can partly pre-empt the problem by quickly announcing firm dates for the dissolution of the government and parliaments and establish a formal, transparent, neutral and credible machinery for making the caretaker governments to everyone's satisfaction. But this may not be sufficient to thwart the aims and objectives of those who seek a longer-term solution to the corruption and inefficiency of both mainstream parties and want to keep them from assuming power yet again.

If Dr Qadri's long march materializes, the chances are that a crisis will be precipitated to draw the military into the fray. The government's reaction could be one cause. Terrorist attacks on the procession could draw blood and create a law and order problem. Imran Khan and other oppositionists including pro-military religious groups and organisations could join hands with Dr Qadri to exploit the occasion to destabilize the government and engineer its ouster. The interventionist judiciary might throw its weight behind such a move. Then the stage would be set for a postponement of elections and installation of a technocratic government for both reform and accountability for a couple of years a la Bangladesh rather than Italy. Whether this new experiment will succeed or not remains a moot question.

Editorial: Dr Qadri's drone attack by Najam Sethi
 

Daredevil

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It seems Pakistani Army is backing a new stooge instead of its previous poster boy Imran Khan. PA, at any cost, doesn't want PPP or PML-N to come back to the power.
 

Mikkiz

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BS article. So called liberal cum idiot najam sethi.
 

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Why is Dr Tahirul Qadri back?

In 1985, when Dr Tahirul Qadri rose to prominence, he claimed to have had spiritual dreams. But political analysts say the motives behind his recent return to the limelight may not be entirely spiritual.

Senior journalist turned politician Azeem Chaudhry, who had covered some of his sermons at that time, said Dr Tahirul Qadri was close to the father of then-chief minister Nawaz Sharif, but even he could not save him when the cleric was made to leave the Punjab University law college in a controversial decision. That is not the only controversy Dr Tahirul Qadri has been in. Chaudhry questions the motives behind his return to politics.

Dr Tahirul Qadri addressed a large public gathering at Iqbal Park near Minar-e-Pakistan on December 23, saying he had come back to Pakistan to save the country from corrupt and dishonest leaders. He criticized politicians without naming them, but the references were more than obvious. He quoted generously from the constitution, at times without proper context. He made the case for involving the two main "stakeholders" - the judiciary and the army - in the selection of a caretaker set up to "hold free, fair and transparent elections". For that, he said, the constitution allowed delaying the polls.

"Dr Tahirul Qadiri must read the post 18th Amendment Constitution," Zafarullah Khan of the Center of Civic Education Pakistan said in his recent blog, pointing to the fact that a caretaker prime minister is now appointed by the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition.

But when the cleric warned he would march towards Islamabad with millions of people if his demands were not met by January 10, he knew what he was saying.

The cleric warned he would march towards Islamabad with millions of people if his demands are not met by January 10
Sources close to him say he has a roadmap in the run-up to the general elections that includes making alliances with like-minded parties including the MQM and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf.

MQM expects to organize a matching rally at Karachi's famous Nishtar Park, to be addressed by Dr Tahirul Qadri. It would probably be the first time MQM chief Altaf Hussain would limit himself to just welcoming another speaker.

Sources in the PPP said Interior Minister Rehman Malik tried his best to persuade the MQM against attending the Lahore rally, but he failed. The presence of the entire Rabita Committee of the MQM in the rally indicated it would love to capitalize on Dr Qadri's support base.

The political circles in Islamabad are speculating if Dr Tahirul Qadri, Altaf Hussain and Imran Khan can forge an electoral alliance. "The script has already been written," said a PML-N leader. He said Dr Qadri had given a voice to the concerns of the judiciary and the army.

Sources said the two mainstream parties are likely to develop a consensus on the appointment of a caretaker prime minister, since none of them would like the Election Commission of Pakistan to make the final call.

Senator Ishaq Dar, who is probably the least hated PML-N leader among the PPP leadership, is spearheading the backchannel dialogue with the ruling party.

Several names surfaced during the talks, including Asma Jehangir, Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid and Justice (r) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui. The latest of these names is Shaukat Tareen, the former finance minister.

The replacement of Governor Latif Khosa with Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood in Punjab is one of the two steps President Zardari has recently taken to win improve the PPP's electoral performance in Punjab. The other was the appointment of Manzoor Wattoo as PPP Punjab President.

In its game plan, the PPP has divided the province in three parts - the south, the center and the north, where the Gilanis, Manzoor Wattoo and Raja Pervez Ashraf managing the affairs respectively.

And as the entire nation is gearing up for the most exciting elections, the calls of delaying them under Article 254 of the constitution may not become popular among the masses.

The Article 254 says: "When any act or thing is required by the Constitution to be done within a particular period and it is not done within that period, the doing of the act or thing shall not be invalid or otherwise ineffective by reason only that it was not done within that period."

Law Minister Farooq Naek does not agree with Dr Tahirul Qadri's argument that the provision can be used to delay elections. He said the timeframe for holding the general elections was specifically and clearly defined in the constitution, and that could not be done away with.

Some PPP leaders have suggested introducing a new constitutional amendment restricting the caretaker government from extending its tenure under any circumstances.

They even suggest any such action by the caretaker government, without or without the collusion of the judiciary or any other quarter, should be punishable under Article 6 of the Constitution.

But articles of the constitution may not be applicable to Dr Tahirul Qadri, because he is a citizen of Canada.

Comment: Why is Dr Tahirul Qadri back? by Shahzad Raza
 

maomao

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He too wears a lal topi ! ;)
 

Mikkiz

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It seems Pakistani Army is backing a new stooge instead of its previous poster boy Imran Khan. PA, at any cost, doesn't want PPP or PML-N to come back to the power.
HUndreds of politicians joined PML currently, Secret meeting have been done between establishment and PML leader. they have a deal too in Saudi Arabia to kick PPP and IMran out of politics.
Former foreign minister gohar Ayub son of AYub khan a dictator joined PML, Zia ul haq a (dictator) son joined PML.
PML is the only party who supports taliban and in fact NAwaz shareef met osama bin laden to threaten benazir government.
NAwaz shareef came to pakistan in 2008 with the help of army so why army want to kick PML out.
In fact Army offers PML to form government with the help of other parties in 2008 election to kick PPP out but PML did not do that due to Condoleeza rice and US.
PML is always a party of ARMY and ESTABLISHMENT.

Tahir ul qadri dod many jalsas like that in the past, but it is highlighted today due to media rating.
Tahir ul qadri has millions of fans.
 

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