Qadri’s antics threaten democracy
Whether the number was 50,000 or five million, the huge gathering in Tahirul Qadri’s long march comprised highly charged participants who had travelled to Islamabad on their own expense and were waiting for a signal from the TMQ chief for action. On reaching Islamabad, an overconfident Qadri peremptorily demanded that the president dissolved all assemblies by 11am the next day (Tuesday). To make the preposterous claim that any crowd, irrespective of its numbers, could take back the mandate won by a government in proper elections, is an invitation to anarchy. Before the ultimatum expired, one of the two institutions Qadri was relying upon had decided against him. The SC threw a spanner in the works with the remark that irrespective of what anyone does, the general elections would take place on the scheduled time. There was little hope after this of any other powerful institution coming to Qadri’s help. The government meanwhile rightly rejected the demand as unconstitutional and unlawful.
While the TMQ chief continues to insist on his seven demands, which include dismissal of the Election Commission and the legislative assemblies, his stance has significantly changed. Maintaining that his struggle would remain non-violent and invoking the protests on the same manner as were made during the Arab Spring, he hopes to continue the sit-in indefinitely, thus bringing the government machinery to a standstill. The earlier dictatorial tone has changed into fervent appeals to the marchers to stay on. As he sleeps in a bomb proof luxurious vehicle and delivers his speech from behind a bullet-proof screen, those who have come on his call have to sleep under the sky unprotected. In this backdrop, the mantra of comparing his venture with that of Imam Hussain’s looks increasingly ludicrous.
The mainstream parties need to ask themselves how a Pakistani citizen who after assuming the Canadian citizenship had mostly lived abroad could gather tens of thousands of charged marchers and take them to Islamabad. Many think it was the lack of responsiveness on their part towards the problems of the common man. The march should be a reminder that if these parties continue to ignore the man in the street, the next threat may be even more potent and might in fact turn out to be mortal for the system. The demands for the announcement of election schedule need to be heeded to by the government and an agreement reached on the caretaker setup taking all major parties into confidence.
The apex court’s orders to arrest Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and 15 others accused in the Rental Power Projects case have come at a time when the government is already under threat. They are likely to be give birth to speculation regarding as to why the court chose this particular time to take action.
