ISLAMABAD: Dr Tahirul Qadri entered the political arena at the eleventh hour with resounding fanfare. He roared and ranted and virtually shook the entire political scene of the country. He appeared to have convinced many people that there was promise in his campaign for reform of the electoral matrix of the country. Reality, however, turned out to be otherwise. He took somersaults more than once and failed to hide the real face of his revolution for change. Dr Qadri began his assault on the system by targeting the corruption rampant in a society beguiled by the incumbent rulers. Before the dramatic wrap-up of his five-day long march before the Parliament House, the theologian bowed to the theatrics of the regime and signed an agreement with it. Thus, Dr Qadri lost the first round.
Later, he shifted his oratory to the Supreme Court where he personally argued his case challenging the constitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan. Realising that he was losing the case, he turned his loose cannons against the chief justice. Here he showed his real self. Not coincidentally, he had met PML-Q leaders before appearing in the apex Court. Here, his skillfully crafted jigsaw puzzle ironically turned the tables on him. Dr Qadri, without any qualms of conscience, pounced upon the Court, expediently forgetting that he had glorified the same Court a few days ago, showering kudos upon the chief justice from his cloistered container.
It now seems that he landed in the country not to reform the electoral system but to join the regime in damaging the image of the independent judiciary. It is not hard to identify the beneficiaries of the doctor’s antics. More cats are likely to come out of the bag of the quixotic professor in the course of time.
BA Malik
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2013.
