Even though Interior Minister Rehman Malik is now relentlessly claiming that his threat of cracking down on Dr Tahirul Qadri’s sit-in was part of psychological warfare with the Tehreek Minhajul Quran leader, the interior minister had full plans to attack the unarmed and peaceful gathering by misleading the Inter-Services Intelligence chief that his stance was fully endorsed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the government’s lead negotiator, an informed source revealed to Pakistan Today on Friday.
According to the source, who spoke on condition on anonymity, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat not only played a pivotal role in defusing the government’s standoff with Dr Qadri, the seasoned politician also thwarted a mischievous plan by Interior Minister Malik to start an operation against the sit-in participants at 2am (late on Wednesday) that would have made former president Pervez Musharraf’s assault on Lal Masjid (Operation Silence) seem like a tea party.
The source said that Malik had even tried to mislead Inter-Services Intelligence chief Gen Zaheerul Islam into believing that Shujaat had sanctioned a crackdown against the sit-in participants “as Dr Qadri had disappeared from his container and had likely escaped from the sit-in venue”.
The source said Gen Islam checked with his field agents and was informed that Dr Qadri was present inside his bomb-proof container and had not left the sit-in.
“The information was passed on to Shujaat who immediately telephoned President Asif Zardari, who has been in Karachi for the last one month, and told him about Malik’s conspiracy,” the source said.
“Shujaat told President Zardari that he would resign in protest if Malik was allowed to carry out the ‘targeted operation’. The senior coalition partner also told the president that there was no point in restraining Malik and he should himself make a public announcement that the government would not launch any crackdown on the sit-in participants.”
“President Zardari acknowledged Shujaat’s request and a media statement was issued by the Presidency, categorically stating that no such operation would be carried out,” the source said, adding that a major disaster was averted by the timely intervention of the president.
The source said Shujaat also told the president that he would not negotiate with Dr Qadri alone and a committee of coalition partners should be formed to carry out the dialogue. “The president asked Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to call a meeting of the coalition partners on Thursday and it was decided that a 10-member government team led by Shujaat and comprising representatives of all allied parties would hold negotiations with Dr Qadri,” the source said.
He said Senator Mushahid Hussain was tasked with contacting Dr Qadri and listing down his demands which were according to the constitution. “Besides the immediate dissolution of the national and provincial assemblies, reconstitution of the Election Commission and a say in the formation of the caretaker government, Dr Qadri also demanded that Prime Minister Ashraf should lead the government’s negotiating team. However this demand of Qadri was shot down by Mushahid, who told him that Shujaat was a much senior political leader than Pervaiz Ashraf and was also a former PM and therefore he would lead the negotiations,” he said.
The source said Qadri demanded that elections should be held within 90 days to give the Election Commission time to scrutinise the eligibility of candidates under Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, to which the government agreed.
According to the constitution, if the assemblies are dissolved when their terms expire (in this case March 16) the elections should be held within 60 days, but in case the assemblies are dissolved even one day before their terms expire, the elections may be held within 90 days.
“Dr Qadri was being advised on the constitutional provisions by former ECP secretary Kunwar Dilshad,” the source said.
He said after negotiating the demands with Dr Qadri, the government team discussed them with President Zardari and Prime Minister Ashraf. “I also have information that Qadri’s demands were discussed with the army top brass but this could not be independently verified,” he said.
The source said after getting the president’s approval, the government team went to meet Dr Qadri and they vetted the draft agreement together. “However, Dr Qadri told the team that he would not announce an end to his sit-in until Prime Minister Ashraf authenticated the agreement. The team then went to the PM and got his signatures following which Qadri called off the sit-in.”
POLITICAL ALLIANCE:
The source said efforts were now being made by the Chaudhrys to convince Dr Qadri to make an alliance of his Pakistan Awami Tehreek with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and Pakistan People’s Party for the upcoming election.
“Parleys are also being held to entice Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf to join the grand alliance. However, the situation will become clearer in the coming days,” he said.
The source said the general perception in the power corridors in the federal capital was that Qadri’s political drama had isolated PML-Nawaz, but some analysts believe that Nawaz had also benefited from the situation as it had brought him closer to religious parties like Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and might help in forging an electoral alliance with them.