Jan 14 march: Tahirul Qadri has returned to spread chaos, says Nawaz
Says he won’t allow Minhajul Quran chief to take Pakistan hostage.
Nawaz says he won’t allow Minhajul Quran chief to take Pakistan hostage. PHOTO: INP/FILE
LAHORE:
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif has made it clear he will not allow Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri to ‘take the country hostage’ and sabotage the electoral process.
Addressing a joint press conference with Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Talal Bugti at his residence on Thursday, the PML-N chief lashed out at Qadri.
“It may be up to the federal government to decide whether to allow Qadri’s march in Islamabad, but we will not allow him to take the country hostage with a few thousand followers,” he asserted.
Nawaz warned the Minhajul Quran chief that if he and his supporters tried to derail the democratic set-up, then PML-N too had the support of hundreds of thousands of people to counter any such move.
“I don’t know what Qadri’s agenda is, whether he is a puppet of local agencies or international lobbies… But what I do know is that he has returned to Pakistan to spread chaos in the country,” the PML-N chief contended. He maintained that Qadri, who holds a Canadian nationality, had no right to ask for people’s support to ‘wind up the democratic process and sabotage the upcoming elections’.
The PML-N chief claimed Qadri spent around Rs500 million on public gathering in Lahore and demanded that the matter be probed.
Nawaz also criticised the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for lending support to Qadri’s long march and grander agenda.
“On one side, they are the coalition partners of the federal government… on the other, they intend to join the long march against it,” he observed, adding that both PML-Q and MQM need to ask their voters before siding with President Asif Ali Zardari or ‘Sheikhul Islam’.
Meanwhile, Talal Bugti seconded Nawaz’s stance that Qadri planned to derail democracy in the country, while speaking at the conference. He announced that JWP will contest the upcoming elections in alliance with PML-N.
Bugti also announced his long march towards Islamabad from interior Punjab against enforced disappearances. The JWP leader is scheduled to appear before the Supreme Court on January 12.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2013.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif has made it clear he will not allow Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri to ‘take the country hostage’ and sabotage the electoral process.
Addressing a joint press conference with Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Talal Bugti at his residence on Thursday, the PML-N chief lashed out at Qadri.
“It may be up to the federal government to decide whether to allow Qadri’s march in Islamabad, but we will not allow him to take the country hostage with a few thousand followers,” he asserted.
Nawaz warned the Minhajul Quran chief that if he and his supporters tried to derail the democratic set-up, then PML-N too had the support of hundreds of thousands of people to counter any such move.
“I don’t know what Qadri’s agenda is, whether he is a puppet of local agencies or international lobbies… But what I do know is that he has returned to Pakistan to spread chaos in the country,” the PML-N chief contended. He maintained that Qadri, who holds a Canadian nationality, had no right to ask for people’s support to ‘wind up the democratic process and sabotage the upcoming elections’.
The PML-N chief claimed Qadri spent around Rs500 million on public gathering in Lahore and demanded that the matter be probed.
Nawaz also criticised the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for lending support to Qadri’s long march and grander agenda.
“On one side, they are the coalition partners of the federal government… on the other, they intend to join the long march against it,” he observed, adding that both PML-Q and MQM need to ask their voters before siding with President Asif Ali Zardari or ‘Sheikhul Islam’.
Meanwhile, Talal Bugti seconded Nawaz’s stance that Qadri planned to derail democracy in the country, while speaking at the conference. He announced that JWP will contest the upcoming elections in alliance with PML-N.
Bugti also announced his long march towards Islamabad from interior Punjab against enforced disappearances. The JWP leader is scheduled to appear before the Supreme Court on January 12.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2013.