Tahirul Qadri's Long March

[Mirza Ghalib]

Not my favourite Topic by a Long chalk, but an inescapable one at this point in time. So where are we at exactly? One: the Supreme Court has held a hearing on a consitutional petition against the march. We now await a verdict on their part.

SC moved against Qadri’s long march

January 08, 2013

ISLAMABAD: A constitutional petition was moved in the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday against the January 14 long march to be orchestrated by Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri.

The petitioner, advocate Arshad Mehmood pleaded the apex court to call off the proposed long-march alleging that Tahir-ul-Qadri was attempting to establish a parallel system and imposing his own ideology on the populace.

Arshad said that Qadri's long march was against the laws and constitution of the country. He said that articles 62, 63 and 218 do not decree any such uprising, adding that the government should not allow anybody to transform Islamabad into Tehrir-Squire.

Arshad argued "any attempt to establish a parallel legislative body seeking to overrule and overthrow the parliament would be a direct challenge to the sovereignty of Pakistan which this court is duty bound to defend".

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-82962 ... long-march

Criss-crossing one another, we have news items of the following kind:

- Govt will be responsible for any chaos’

- TTP refutes threatening Qadri long march

- Meeting reviews Qadri rally security

- Qadri sees clash if long march cut short

- KPK Assembly condemns Qadri’s ‘plan’

- Qadri warns against stopping long-march

- Malik warns of attack on Qadri march

It's incredible the lengths we go to to make a topi drama sound plausible.

[aftab]

You can tell that the government at this particular juncture are not taking him very serious, so let's wait and see how this plays out. The point to ponder is whatever he does, will the government be that bothered when its term is coming to an end.

[aftab]

I might have to retract from the above statement because containers being parked up in the red zone of Islamabad.

[aftab]

Good informative show

http://www.zemtv.com/2013/01/09/tonight ... uary-2013/

Guys can we co-ordinate and put all updates, programs and analysis about the long march on this thread. Thnx in advance!

[asif65]

[Mirza Ghalib]

Asif, thanks for above, Always good to hear Haroon Rashid's voice. And now the latest I have been able to glean:

'Million-man’ march: Govt forms committee to negotiate with Qadri
10.1.13

ISLAMABAD / KARACHI:

Five days before the scheduled “million-man march” of Dr Tahirul Qadri, the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government formed a high-powered committee to negotiate with the influential scholar who is calling for sweeping election reforms.

The move came a day after the Minhaj-ul-Quran International chief unveiled the schedule of his rally and authorities put up barricades and barbed wires to secure the red zone in the federal capital in anticipation.

The government’s negotiating committee was formed at a brainstorming session at Bilawal House in Karachi on Wednesday. It comprises Interior Minister Rehman Malik, senior PPP politician Khursheed Shah and the party’s secretary general Jahangir Badar.

The meeting – co-chaired by President Asif Zardari and Premier Raja Pervaiz Ashraf – also formed another committee and tasked it to talk to political leaders and the Punjab government.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the government’s coalition partners – including Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) – was convened on Thursday (today) in Karachi. Matters like negotiations with Dr Qadri and interim setup figure high on the agenda. ANP chief Asfandar Wali, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and an MQM delegation will attend the session to be held at Bilawal House.

Interestingly, the MQM has already said that “thousands of its workers” will show up at Dr Qadri’s long march on January 14. The PML-Q, on the other hand, advised the government to avoid confrontation and resolve the matter through negotiations.

Wednesday’s meeting noted that some elements were seeking to disrupt the election process in an attempt to postpone the next parliamentary election, according to presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar. However, the participants reiterated their commitment to thwarting any attempt to postpone the elections, he added.

“The meeting made it clear that elections will be held on time as stipulated in the Constitution and no delay, even for a day, will be permitted on any pretext. If elections can be held in war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq, [then] why not in Pakistan,” Babar said. The meeting also expressed its determination to maintain law and order at all costs and to protect the life and property of citizens against any adventurism.

NA session delayed

Meanwhile, a National Assembly session, slated for Jan 14, has been postponed in anticipation of Dr Qadri’s rally. The second last session of the lower house will in fact not start from January 14 as originally planned, sources confirmed to The Express Tribune.

Though it is not necessary for every session to be convened as per the tentative schedule, the planned dates are almost always followed. “The next date for the NA session will be announced after Dr Qadri’s long march,” an official said.

Asked whether it was due to Qadri’s march close to Parliament House that the lower house was not convening, he said, “Yes it is because of the long march call.”

Dr Qadri and his followers are gearing up for a massive gathering in the capital. In this regard, teams comprising members of Minhaj-ul-Quran International have started a massive recruitment drive.

(Read: Caretakers and the Constitution)

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2013.

P.S. Aftab, this bears out part of what was discussed on the video you posted above. My answer to Dr Pirzada's intial question: pressure is on both sides. Only PTI is free of any pressure as the 14th approaches.

[Mirza Ghalib]

MQM to participate in long march: Altaf
January 10, 2013

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Thursday said that his party would participate in Tahir ul Qadri’s long march at any cost.

During a telephonic address from London, he said PPP and other political and religious parties held long march in past but only MQM is criticized for their participation in the march.

Altaf Hussain condemned the explosions that took place in Quetta and Swat. He also condemned India’s ceasefire violation on Line of Control.

Altaf said that Nawaz Sharif along with his family lived in Saudi Arab on diplomatic passport for a long period of time, adding that the Saudi King is not his (Altaf’s) friend otherwise he would have gotten a palace in Saudi Arab in 1992.

He said that various leaders of PPP also lived abroad.

Defending the criticism about holding dual nationality, Altaf Hussain said that Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was also holding British passport.

The MQM chief also read the oath taken by Quaid e Azam after assuming charge of Governor General, saying that Quaid e Azam in his oath said that he would remain faithful to British King George VI.

He also read a provision of Indian Independence Act 1947 which stated that the office of Governor-General in each of the two new countries (Pakistan and India), as representative of the Crown.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-83234 ... rch:-Altaf

(If this is Altaf B's "political drone", then that's fine by us. We can live with it.)

[resurrected]

We live in the age of political dwarfs, so Altaf doesn't surprise me, nor do the other clowns around!

[aftab]

I just hate it when people like Altaf Hussain start making comparisons with Quaid e Azam and when it suits them they use Pakistan as a shoe mat. At a long shot, the delaying of elections can benefit Zardari, as he can be re-elected from the same assemblies. PTI have taken the correct stance as the time for besieging parliament would be after the announcement of the interim government, so at this particular juncture Qadri's demands seem premature.

[stingingnettle]

If you look at the history of MQM; you will realise that this party is perhaps the most opportunistic party in the history of Pakistan. This is a party that will stab it's friends with one hand while shaking their hands with the other. MQM also times its stabbings with a great sense of timing; ie jumping off a losing horse the moment it becomes clear that the ride is over.

This model has worked for MQM but now it does not wash very well with the people. TuQ would have enjoyed the respect of a lot of people had he not jumped into bed with MQM even before the Lahore rally. TuQ will remember his new found love for MQM his greatest failing. TuQ by holding MQM's hand is providing directly complicit in the corruption, nepotism and violence that he so complains about. If you look at the top leadership of MQM, you realise that this is a sectarian, segregationist and exclusive group which can only survive by excluding all the non urdu speaking Pakistanis from their rank and file. You could argue this about other parties too such as ANP and PPP but that is nothing to be proud of either.

Altaf is at best a second rate coward who does not have the integrity to face the seriously allegations levelled against him so it will do him good not to get hallucinatory and start comparing himself with Jinnah who, in my opinion, was the finest statesman a Pakistan could ever ask for. The fact that I drew my first breath in a free country is thanks to Jinnah and the fact that Karachi is the murder and extortion capital of the South Asia is thanks to Altaf!

[Mirza Ghalib]

MQM Not to Participate in TUQ's Long March

January 11, 2013

KARACHI: The leadership of Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) has decided not to participate in the long march called by Tahirul Qadri on January 14, Geo News reported Friday.

While addressing a news conference here today, Deputy Convener of the Co-ordination Committee Dr Farooq Sattar told that the party leadership has decided to separate itself from the long march, however, it will continue to support the ideology of Tahirul Qadri, founding leader of Tehreek-i-Minhaj ul Quran (TMQ).

Dr Sattar told that the decision has been taken in the backdrop of the deteriorating security situation in the country and it is dangerous to put on stake the lives of millions of people.

He said that the decision has been conveyed to Tahirul Qadri.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-83337 ... long-march

[Mirza Ghalib]

SN, the most opportunistic Party, quite right, and also the most shameless one. MQM have done their utmost to destroy Karachi, prior to cutting it off from the rest of Pakistan. Whose slaves they are, we all know very well. Do people still remember Zulfiqar Mirza's revelations, for instance? Well, everything he said at the time was nothing but the truth pure and simple.

And TUQ is yet another of the same kind, not a Pakistani Patriot (thank you for ringing words of endorsement for our Quaid-e-Azam) at all, but most definitely a foreign slave.

[Mirza Ghalib]

http://www.zemtv.com/2013/01/11/mqm-dec ... ong-march/

There we have it for all to hear. The same flowery language, the same hypocrisy. Can anyone still doubt the outcome of all of this fuss and bother begun on December 23, 2012?

[semirza]

No doubt all this fuss has been planned to extend power for zardari and his anti Pakistani mafia, a period just enough for N.American forces to complete their face saving with drawl from Afghanistan.

[aftab]

I am glad that anybody 'not' linked to MQM have unanimously condemned and poured scorn on his comments. TUQ made a major strategic blunder by sitting with MQM and inviting trouble for himself, but one could argue a trouble maker always invites trouble!

[aftab]

http://www.zemtv.com/2013/01/12/imran-k ... ong-march/

[aftab]

http://www.zemtv.com/2013/01/12/see-wha ... ong-march/

[Mirza Ghalib]

Aftab, thank you, thank you. Your two video extracts were just what we needed to start the day. IK is a man of his word, someone for whom credibility and accountability are top of the agenda. And then people wonder we feel respect for him! As for rounding up street containers and using them for their own purposes, that is once again arbitrary power at its most naked. crazy PMLN, mad PPP. And cunning both of them! And matching them in this respect is the latecomer Dr Qadri.

As for SEM's suggestion regarding what's behind all this topi drama, it makes absolute sense. The question remains, however, how successful it will all turn out to be finally.

[resurrected]

The moment of truth is not far, we look forward to watching a four million march!
Even if TUQ do succeed gathering so huge crowd, what would it entail, remembering that we are talking of a country with 180 million population?

[aftab]

TUQ on Malik Riaz visiting his home

http://www.zemtv.com/2013/01/12/dr-qadr ... ikal-diya/



Brother MG i feel very sad that the working class people in our country are treated like this. Such behaviour can only lead to chaos, bloodshed and eventually a revolution.