PTI, PAT and MQM

Agitation may be easy to start, but difficult to control

PTI on May 11 staged a public meeting in Islamabad basically making demands for electoral reforms, examination of votes cast in four seats in which PTI lost and punishments to the returning officers. They also announced to continue agitations every week till their demands are met. Tahir ul Qadri of PAT declared that it is incumbent upon the people of Pakistan to change the existing system by a revolution. A senator of MQM threatened to shut down Karachi for a year.

Qadri studied law at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, where he graduated with an LLB in 1974, obtaining a Gold Medal for his academic performances. Following a period of legal practice as an advocate, he taught law at the University of the Punjab from 1978 to 1983 and obtained his PhD in Islamic Law (Punishments in Islam, their classification and philosophy) in 1986 from the same university. His supervisors were Bashir Ahmad Siddiqui (‘Ulum al-Islamiyya) and Javaid Iqbal. He was appointed as a professor of law at the University of Punjab, where he taught British, US and Islamic constitutional law.

On 25 May 1989, Qadri founded a political party, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). This party aims to introduce the culture of democracy, promote economic stability, and improve the state of human rights, justice, and women’s role in Pakistan. The PAT also aims to remove corruption from Pakistani politics. Its official website contains its formal manifesto. In 1990, Qadri participated in the national election without any success. In 1991, PAT and TNFJ (Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafri, a shi’a political group), now known as Tehreek-e-Jafria, introduced the idea of political working relationship. From 1989 to 1993, Qadri continuously worked as an opposition leader. During the Musharraf era he was elected as a member of the national assembly.

Qadri apparently made contradictory statements regarding his role in the making of Pakistan’s blasphemy law. In an Urdu-language speech he said: “I would like to lift the veil that this blasphemy law… it was I who had this law made, that no matter who commits blasphemy, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, man or woman, Christian or Jew, whoever commits blasphemy should be killed like a dog!” Yet in another video he says: “Whatever the law of blasphemy is, is not applicable to non-Muslims, is not applicable to Jews, Christians, and any other non-Muslims. I was never a part of shaping this law in the parliament made by Zia-ul-Haq.” After the disclosure of this apparent contradiction in the Danish Media, the integration and social affairs minister, Karen Hækkerup, pulled out of a conference on religious radicalism after she discovered that Qadri helped to fashion Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law. She said she would not share a stage with a controversial Muslim scholar who helped to create that law.

On the face of it there is substance in the demands made by PTI. However, a public meeting is not the right place for it.

Qadri on May 11 in his speech by video link from Canada stated that the existing system is undemocratic and unconstitutional. He called for changing it by a revolution. He further called for creating thirty (30) provinces. One wonders who has given him the mandate to do this. Qadri is also a Canadian national hence he has dual loyalties. Qadri being a very intelligent man he very well knows that the revolution he proposes will result in the takeover of the country by the armed forces. Having failed in his attempts in elections he now proposes to enter the corridors of power by unconstitutional and undemocratic means.

On the face of it there is substance in the demands made by PTI. However, a public meeting is not the right place for it. PTI should introduce a bill in the National Assembly for electoral reforms rather than doing demonstrations. It appears that PTI are not serious about following the legal procedure for examination of the voting record of the four seats they lost because their lawyers used such abusive language in the court that the proceedings had to be suspended.

It appears that PTI, after a year of lackluster performance in KP, needed to divert public attention from it and needed a booster to shore up their dwindling public popularity. One of their leaders on May 11 claimed from the rostrum that there were five lac people in the rally. The most optimistic independent observers estimate a crowd of about fifty thousand. Imran claims that he does not want to derail democracy. Is he so naïve that he cannot see whose game Qadri is playing, what he actually proposes and if successful what will be its result?

One needs to realise that it is not difficult to organise and start agitations but once started it is difficult to control them. PTI and Imran must realise that in case of massive demonstrations resulting in complete breakdown of law and order, the armed forces will be forced to intervene with dire consequences for democracy and that there will be no place for PTI and Imran in the resulting system.

It is a strange coincidence that the PTI and PAT held their rallies on the same day and the MQM senator also threatened in the senate to close down Karachi for a year, or is it?