Will pronounce my agenda in three installments :Qadri

Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s addressed a mammoth gathering at Islamabad after his seven hour deadline to President Asif Zardari and the Pakistan People’s Party-led federal government to dissolve all assemblies expired at 11am on Tuesday.

The TMQ chief started his speech in English and the fact was mocked by the Interior Minister Rehman Malik as proof that Qadri was addressing foreign audiences who have tasked him with annulling the democratic setup.

TMQ chief started his address by saying that he had come to Islamabad to assist the citizens in their need of securing their rights, adding that he had neither plans nor would accept any Federal office. Qadri resorted to a rich vocabulary of English language in the first phase of his address and said that the people of Pakistan were “
Destitute with no jobs, No income supports and the only right which the present democratic set up had decreed for the citizens is the right to die and the right to commit suicide”

He said that the populace was in “Chains of poverty with no money to treat a sick child and no protection of life and liberty”. He said that 99 percent of the citizens of Pakistan are “have nots” whereas the ‘one percent haves’ had rendered the “government and law enforcing agencies paralyzed and dysfunctional.” He said that “the government does not accept the rulings of SC, does not enact laws to eradicate terrorism, grants no health insurance, ignores education, human development and the last five years saw no economic growth”.

He said that the Parliament is “no more democratic and priorities of the parliamentarians are looting and corruption even though there is no gas, water and electricity in the country”.

He Quoted Article 281 of the constitution and people representative act 1976 which state that the electoral process should be free and fair.

He said that “democratic mechanisms do not exist in the political parties of the country… criminality exists here. Power vests in lying and dishonesty. The law of the land is ‘three M’s’: money, might and manipulation. 70 percent of the parliamentarians’ do not pay taxes”

He said that the only saviors of the country are the army and the judiciary, adding, that Pakistan’s democracy is full of Tauqeer Sadiq’s ; president’s appointee as OGRA chairman who fled the country after looting Rs 84 billion.”

TMQ chief Qadri then shifted to Urdu and said that the treasury benches “allege that I have been funded but they have yet to ascertain my sources. I ask you participants to tell me whether I paid you to come here? Those who have not found the epicenter of my funding in a month cannot do so even if they keep looking for another ten years. Shame on you for bad mouthing someone without evidence. You haven’t found that who’s behind me… shame on you and shut up… Don’t blame the army. Their denial of funding me is a slap on your face. Then you said that America and UK are backing me. They replied to the accusations in the negative. I’ll tell you…ALLAH, Prophet the poor, advocates, the females and the depressed are behind me”.

Pointing his guns at the PPP and the PML-N Qadri said that “you have forgotten your history of meeting army at night but when I meet them in daylight, you accuse me of being a puppet of dictators. Long marches for the restoration of the Judiciary are democratic but long marches against corrupt and incompetent rulers are anti democratic?”

Qadri said that his agenda was to perpetuate “peace at home and peace abroad. We do not want to lease out Pakistan to fundamental and tattooed terrorists. Prophet PBHU was a peace maker and merciful. We want the civility he preached and the current rulers cannot guarantee it. We want to propagate peace, tolerance, and moderation and there shall be no space for extremism and terrorism. Article 40 of the constitution states that: Pakistani state is responsible for promoting peace home and abroad. The parliament is not doing as such. We want a constructive role in our region. The democrats are sucking blood of the poor. Peace making can be done by army and the society. The democratic system has failed”.

Underscoring his Braelvi leanings, he said that “we are brethren of all religions and ideologies. Chrisitans, Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians enjoy the same rights as Muslims in Pakistan. They are Pakistani citizens and their rights were guaranteed to them by M.A Jinnah but his promises have been annulled by rulers”.

“Meida is not sure whether it is safe. People are dying everyday. Our soldiers are spilling blood daily. Citizens had to stage a protest in chilling cold for four days in Quetta with dead bodies to secure their rights. Is this a system? Government is a gang of rented terrorists and criminals .The terror networks of political parties extract monetary benefits from the citizens and this is done over the blood of armed forces. In the last 25 years, the assets of politicians have increased by over 1000 percent whereas those of Pakistan plummeted by 135 percent. Who is responsible? We will not go back without concrete answers. I congratulate you for coming to the march despite reports of terrorist attacks. Peace is the need for citizens not rulers. The rulers have police and justice is a maid of the rulers. Citizens, you need the constitution, gas, electricity, employment. The rulers’ donot need these things and hence would never go out of their houses to protest. They would only call all protests as unconstitutional. Your need is education and their need is to befool you”.

Qadri said that “I am not an enemy of PPP, PMlN, ANP or any specific group but I am an enemy of the corrupt system. I am fighting for the rights of the 99 percent. Remember if you go back from Islamabad without fulfillment of our demands, no one would stand up for your rights. If any one wants to defect he is allowed to. He can defect in the veil of the dark. I’ll speak tomorrow too and we won’t need a third day. I am not here to empower myself but I am here to empower you. Double the number of protestors by tomorrow (Wednesday). We will not hurl stones nor use abusive language but we demand dissolving of the parliament. If they do not, we would sit in and force them to do as such. I would prefer dying over going back. There was firing after the Fajr prayers and some bullets also hit my car. I am here to make Islamabad Karbala”.

He said that the rulers were acting like cats and rats and not like lions. He said that on 9th of Muharram, Imam Hussain put off the lamps and said that tomorrow is a “do or die day and we may loose our necks”. Qadri added that “If anyone is afraid, he should go and I would not complaint against him to my prophet. Leave me if you want”.