The MQI chief says that if anyone triying to malign his march, will be committing contempt of court. PHOTO: AFP
While influential scholar Tahirul Qadri continues to press ahead with his plans for a ‘million man march’ in Islamabad, the government tried to throw a spanner in the works on Friday – declaring that it would not issue a ‘No-Objection Certificate’ (NOC) for the rally.
“We will not let Qadri’s followers to enter in [the] capital’s territory as MQI failed to obtain an NOC,” a senior official of the interior ministry told The Express Tribune on Friday.
However, the president of Islamabad chapter of Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI), Abrar Raza, claimed that over 1.4 million people will gather in the federal capital on January 14 no matter what. “Come what may, we will hold [the] million-man march at D Chowk, Islamabad,” he added.
“I have also filed a petition in the sessions court against [Islamabad] Chief Commissioner Tariq Mehmood, seeking action against him as he ordered the local police to arrest MQI supporters.”
In another petition, Raza added that the party has sought action against the ministry of natural resources, which has passed an order to close down petrol pumps for three days, from January 12 to January 14. Another petition has also been filed in the Supreme Court against the long march.
Qadri’s press conference
Meanwhile, MQI chief Tahirul Qadri continued to rail against the federal and Punjab governments for “patronising terrorism” in the country. Speaking at a news conference in Lahore, he said that his movement would be a “long-term” one against terrorism and “so-called democratic set-up”, while comparing himself to Mao Tse-Tung.
Qadri declared that any kind of attack or assassination during the march would implicate President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.
The army and the judiciary, however, received high praise from Qadri, who stated that he appreciated their role against terrorism. He also thanked the judiciary for disposing of three petitions against his march. The MQI chief added that if anyone tried to malign his march, he would be committing contempt of court.
Referring to Pakistan Army, Qadri lauded its role in the current Line of Control (LoC) tensions and urged the country to stand by the military. While he condemned Thursday’s blasts in Quetta and Swat, he said they proved that either this “so-called democratic set-up” had failed to counter terrorism or the federal and provincial governments had promoted terrorism.
Qadri accused the Punjab government of coercing transporters into cancelling their services to carry long march participants, adding that many transporters had returned their advance payments on Thursday. He said the Lahore district coordination officer had removed his party’s camps across the city, and that the federal government had blocked routes all over the city, forcing MQI workers to leave. A spokesperson for the Punjab government, however, denied the allegations as “a pack of lies”.
Asked about MQM’s pullout from his march, a defensive Qadri said he had announced the rally, not the MQM, and therefore he had no objection to their decision.
Security beefed up
Despite the fact that the government has not issued an NOC, it is pressing ahead with security arrangements – it pulled out policemen from sensitive areas to deploy them in the twin cities to provide foolproof security to residents during the long march. An additional 8,000 policemen have also been put on high alert in case of an emergency, added the senior interior ministry official.
The government also sought services of over 10,000 security personnel from all provinces, officials associated with the security arrangements said.
At the same time, the interior ministry ordered the Frontier Constabulary commandment in Peshawar to send in extra platoons to maintain security in Islamabad, without the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government sanctioning the move.
“The interior ministry has ordered the FC to report to Islamabad directly without any sanction from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government,” an official of the provincial home department told The Express Tribune.
The interior ministry initially approached the K-P government with the request, but when it did not oblige, the ministry directed the FC commandment to send 4,000 men. Furthermore, they are to report to the Islamabad police chief on Saturday (today).
Home department officials, quoting a notification of the interior ministry, said that besides withdrawing 2,500 FC personnel assisting the police in K-P, another 1,700 will also be immediately withdrawn from multinational and oil and gas companies.
The officials said it was yet to be decided whether the FC should deploy troops to Islamabad, adding the province was already short of them.
(WITH ADDITIONAL reporting by Umer Farooq in Peshawar)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2013.
COMMENTS (7)
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If Qadri has any sense of justice he would go to Quetta where 82 bodies of innocent Muslim victims of terrorists are waiting to be buried. However the road to power goes through Islamabad not Baluchistan. This is the test of all rightwing and religious leaders to prove whether they are with the victims or the terrorists. I am sure I am banging my head against the wall and none of these rightwing leaders would come out openly against the terrorists.
Did learned Qadri ever responded to the rebuttal of J. Al Azhar point by point? Pakistanis have to decide who is more credible an institution like J. Al Azhar or a Canadian citizen who has come to Pakistan only for agitation and delay the elections. Somehow all of a sudden it dawned on him (like a message from God) that he has to go and interfere in the election process of Pakistan. Gen Mush and APM could not come and contest the elections so Qadri has come instead!
Mao Zedong was a communist and by his the very nature of his ideology he was an atheist. Shouldn't the Sheikh-ul-islam comPare himself to a religious Muslim icon like Hazrat Ali rather than an atheist like Mao.
Jeevay Jeevay Tahir Jeevay!
We are all supporters of Dr Saheb.
We welcomed Dr Qadri in India recently, and the tour was very successful.
Long live Dr Qadri
No sensible person will join with him in long march. Qadri is an anarchist on the mission to disrupt election process. His deportation would have saved country billions.
We must support Qadri Sahib for a great cause to eliminate corrupt mafia from politics. A few families have hijacked the whole political system in the country.
Go qadri saheb i think any sensible mind would agree with what u say n stand by u