The government’s negotiating committee was formed at a brainstorming session at Bilawal House in Karachi on Wednesday. PHOTO: APP
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.
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Dr. Qadri finally have enough courage to do what many Islamic scholars feared to. His fatwa puts into perspective the true teachings of Islam and how various terrorist organizations have hijacked the religion for political gains conning many an uneducated (in religion I mean) person into thinking a man can make himself a marytr, which is impossible. Despite how great an idea to reform the election process is etc. It is not fruitful to change leadership as much as it is to change leaders personally. If he were to make more efforts in this direction both at the small gov level and national level, he will help shape a new face for Pakistan.
Dr. Qadri is not an undesirable person. Please know that his book on "Fatwa" has been acknowledged by Al-Azhar University, Cairo and his scholastic works are held in high esteem.
Last night's talk show on Duniya TV, Dr. Qadri silenced the anchor and the other participant, Mr. Mujeebur Rahman Shami, a respectable journalist and analyst. Both were dumb founded by his grasp of constitutional knowledge and tried to put on a show of defiance, which was openly mild and their loss for words discernible. Dr. Qadri trumped the show.
Salams for 2013.
@Falcon: Ha! I agree.
Most likely, the high powered committee has been setup to negotiate with MQM rather than Qadri.
Why so much importance is given to this undesirable person? If he succeeds in creating disturbance, other anarchists will follow too.