Qadri to govt: Don’t mess with long march
Laughs off possible threats of terrorist attack on rally; Punjab govt denies charges.
Laughs off possible threats of terrorist attack on rally; Punjab govt denies charges.
LAHORE:
Influential scholar and founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI) Dr Tahirul Qadri warned the Punjab government on Sunday against any plans to stop his “million-man march” scheduled for January 14.
If the Punjab government tried to hinder the long march then half of the rally participants will march on Lahore, Dr Qadri said while talking to delegations from lawyers’ and labour organisations at his office in Lahore.
“Around two million people will storm Lahore while the rest will march on Islamabad if the Punjab government tries to stop us,” he warned and said the government would be responsible for the situation.
Claiming that he had no particular issue with either President Asif Zardari or PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, Dr Qadri said his critics were trying to drag his agenda towards a non issue.
Dr Qadri called the prime minister’s discretionary fund “a corruption black hole” and said that it was swelling so that the ruling party could spend the money on its constituencies as part of pre-poll rigging.
The MQI chief also thanked Interior Minister Rehman Malik for telephoning him and informing him of possible terrorist threats against his scheduled “million-man march”.
He said that while his earlier intention was to bring about a revolution through the long march, he and his supporters would now be bracing for “martyrdom”.
Senator Rashid hits back
PML-N’s senator Pervaiz Rashid countered Dr Qadri’s warning, saying the Punjab government has stopped no political party from holding public meetings or demonstrations in the province.
He rejected Dr Qadri’s allegations that the Punjab government was impounding vehicles to stop people from participating in his long march, adding that the MQI leader was levelling baseless charges out of a fear of failure.
He said Dr Qadri’s allegations were like poll-rigging claims from a candidate who had lost an election.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2013.
Influential scholar and founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI) Dr Tahirul Qadri warned the Punjab government on Sunday against any plans to stop his “million-man march” scheduled for January 14.
If the Punjab government tried to hinder the long march then half of the rally participants will march on Lahore, Dr Qadri said while talking to delegations from lawyers’ and labour organisations at his office in Lahore.
“Around two million people will storm Lahore while the rest will march on Islamabad if the Punjab government tries to stop us,” he warned and said the government would be responsible for the situation.
Claiming that he had no particular issue with either President Asif Zardari or PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, Dr Qadri said his critics were trying to drag his agenda towards a non issue.
Dr Qadri called the prime minister’s discretionary fund “a corruption black hole” and said that it was swelling so that the ruling party could spend the money on its constituencies as part of pre-poll rigging.
The MQI chief also thanked Interior Minister Rehman Malik for telephoning him and informing him of possible terrorist threats against his scheduled “million-man march”.
He said that while his earlier intention was to bring about a revolution through the long march, he and his supporters would now be bracing for “martyrdom”.
Senator Rashid hits back
PML-N’s senator Pervaiz Rashid countered Dr Qadri’s warning, saying the Punjab government has stopped no political party from holding public meetings or demonstrations in the province.
He rejected Dr Qadri’s allegations that the Punjab government was impounding vehicles to stop people from participating in his long march, adding that the MQI leader was levelling baseless charges out of a fear of failure.
He said Dr Qadri’s allegations were like poll-rigging claims from a candidate who had lost an election.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2013.