18:37
Unknown
LONDON:
Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Dr Tahirul Qadri has been described
as an “unpredictable” politician in Pakistan whose true intentions at
this stage cannot be gauged. A western diplomat told The Financial Times
about Qadri: “With others (from mainstream parties) you can predict
intentions, but not with Qadri.”
“I will lead an ocean of people to change Islamabad,” vowed Tahirul Qadri in the interview. The paper said that Qadri is calling for the march to bring reforms to the consternation of many established politicians, including the coalition government of President Asif Ali Zardari.
“People who came were not just my supporters,” he said about the rally of tens of thousands of people in Lahore. “Pakistanis are anxious to see major changes in the way their country is being run.” The paper said that Mr Qadri draws his support from Pakistanis who are frustrated at the domination of politics by a handful of elite leaders from well-known families and who are embittered by the parlous state of the economy.
“Since Mr Qadri’s December gathering, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement – the main political party from the southern city of Karachi, allied to Mr Zardari’s Pakistan People’s party – has decided to join Mr Qadri’s Nizam Badlo, or change the system movement. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf led by Imran Khan, the former cricket star turned politician, is widely expected to join future protests too,” said the paper, adding that the PPP and PML-N have united in accusing Mr Qadri of disrupting the build-up to parliamentary elections this year.
Qadri warned of Pakistan’s “break up” unless ruling politicians are forced to abide by laws of the land. He told the paper he wanted tax evaders, loan defaulters and those with criminal records to be banned from standing for elections, because the existing system led to illegitimate results and “immoral and unethical” governments. “The whole process is a total negation of the principles of democracy. “I only want the Constitution to be enforced. Law breakers are the lawmakers in Pakistan. Seventy per cent of parliamentarians are tax evaders.”
Pakistan’s domination by tainted politicians and the rise of domestic terrorism, he said, had damaged the country’s reputation. “There are parts of Pakistan where the government has no control. Internationally, we are seen as a threat. In the past five years, the government has not formulated laws on terrorism.”
Meanwhile, The Times on Monday included Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Movement for Justice, in “The New Power List – The 100 people to watch in 2013. The list has 10 leading personalities from the world, including Xi Jinping, China’s Communist Party Secretary General, Binyamin Netanyahu, Italian premier Mario Monti, Japan PM Shinzo Abe, Ghana President John Mahama, Venzuela President Nicolas Maduro, Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, US General Joseph Dunfordf and Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Indian state of Gujarat.
About Imran Khan, who is number on the list, The Times said: “This will be the year that the world finds out whether the former Test cricketer really is leading a tsunami of change in Pakistan. He pulls vast crowds of young voters, but pundits doubt he has the political machine to overwhelm the Asif Ali Zardari in national assembly polls expected in the spring.”
“I will lead an ocean of people to change Islamabad,” vowed Tahirul Qadri in the interview. The paper said that Qadri is calling for the march to bring reforms to the consternation of many established politicians, including the coalition government of President Asif Ali Zardari.
“People who came were not just my supporters,” he said about the rally of tens of thousands of people in Lahore. “Pakistanis are anxious to see major changes in the way their country is being run.” The paper said that Mr Qadri draws his support from Pakistanis who are frustrated at the domination of politics by a handful of elite leaders from well-known families and who are embittered by the parlous state of the economy.
“Since Mr Qadri’s December gathering, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement – the main political party from the southern city of Karachi, allied to Mr Zardari’s Pakistan People’s party – has decided to join Mr Qadri’s Nizam Badlo, or change the system movement. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf led by Imran Khan, the former cricket star turned politician, is widely expected to join future protests too,” said the paper, adding that the PPP and PML-N have united in accusing Mr Qadri of disrupting the build-up to parliamentary elections this year.
Qadri warned of Pakistan’s “break up” unless ruling politicians are forced to abide by laws of the land. He told the paper he wanted tax evaders, loan defaulters and those with criminal records to be banned from standing for elections, because the existing system led to illegitimate results and “immoral and unethical” governments. “The whole process is a total negation of the principles of democracy. “I only want the Constitution to be enforced. Law breakers are the lawmakers in Pakistan. Seventy per cent of parliamentarians are tax evaders.”
Pakistan’s domination by tainted politicians and the rise of domestic terrorism, he said, had damaged the country’s reputation. “There are parts of Pakistan where the government has no control. Internationally, we are seen as a threat. In the past five years, the government has not formulated laws on terrorism.”
Meanwhile, The Times on Monday included Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Movement for Justice, in “The New Power List – The 100 people to watch in 2013. The list has 10 leading personalities from the world, including Xi Jinping, China’s Communist Party Secretary General, Binyamin Netanyahu, Italian premier Mario Monti, Japan PM Shinzo Abe, Ghana President John Mahama, Venzuela President Nicolas Maduro, Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, US General Joseph Dunfordf and Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Indian state of Gujarat.
About Imran Khan, who is number on the list, The Times said: “This will be the year that the world finds out whether the former Test cricketer really is leading a tsunami of change in Pakistan. He pulls vast crowds of young voters, but pundits doubt he has the political machine to overwhelm the Asif Ali Zardari in national assembly polls expected in the spring.”
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