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09 January 2013
By Saeed Qureshi
If Dr. Allama Muhammad Tahirul-Qadri can bring about
a change for the better in Pakistan, it should be
diligently welcomed. Prophet Moses was not from the
line of prophets or descendants of Abraham, yet he
liberated the enslaved Hebrew (Jews) nation from the
mighty Pharaohs, and gave them an identity and land.
Sheikhul Islam Qadri is not an equal to Prophet Moses,
nor is he a revolutionary politician in literal sense.
Yet his political party Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT)
that he founded in 1990 outlines the mission "to
introduce the culture of true democracy, economic
stability, improve the state of human rights, justice
and the women's role in Pakistan". The PAT also aims
to remove corruption from Pakistani politics.
If the chickens come home to roost, let them. Why
there is an uproar that he is a Canadian citizen and
that he had forfeited his right to delve in Pakistan's
politics. By living in Canada he has not been doing
any fruitless or objectionable activities but
spreading the message of Islam and humanism. I am also
not ready to buy the argument that he has come to
Pakistan with some hidden nefarious agenda at the
behest of the powers and elements inimical to
Pakistan.
Let us take his words on the face and tend to believe
that has come back to Pakistan with a well defined and
upright agenda to steer this country out of the dark
woods, put it on the right tracks and initiate a
movement that might set Pakistan on a desired yet
ignored course. If his intentions are exposed as
malicious and a ruse to serve the antagonists of
Pakistan, then he would be the one to suffer
irreparably in reputation. Thereafter he will have no
place in Pakistan as a scholar, mystic, or a
politician.
I would prefer to forget what he has been doing in the
past. What I have to care is what he is going to do
for Pakistan and Pakistani nation. Will his clarion
call and envisaged mission of setting the things right
would galvanize the marginalized and dispossessed
people of Pakistan? Has he the guts and thrust to
make the people a valiant force to fight for their
rights against the selfish, ravenous leaders, crook
bureaucrats, greedy business robbers and defiant
enemies of peace and social harmony? Would he emerge
as a bulwark against the cult of phony and fraudulent
rulers whose only penchant has been to loot and
plunder the national wealth, promote nepotism, and
nurture all the vices that are attributed to Pakistan
and that have turned Pakistan into uninhabitable and
dreaded place.
If through a system of choosing honest leaders, he can
seize the bull of bribe and corruption by horns and
straighten those who bilked billions by abusing their
powers and authority then he should be supported. It
is for the first time that a liberal, religious
scholar from among the ignorant and fanatic mullahs
has opted to achieve a breakthrough that would deliver
the nations from the clutches of obscurantism,
fundamentalism and orthodoxy. Allama Qadri speaks and
vouches for true democracy, human rights, an electoral
system free from rigging and hijacked by the moneyed
classes and individuals.
The mammoth crowd that came to attend his address at
the public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan on 23 December
eloquently vouches the glaring fact that people of
Pakistan want a change from the stagnant, unsafe, and
egregiously sinister way of life. The life in Pakistan
is getting traumatic and miserable and harder for the
people.
Dr. Qadri must have come to this empirical and
objective conclusion that it is primarily the
leadership that can transform the destiny of nation
and make it honorable, strong and prosperous. It is
the honest leadership that creates a system of
governance that is transparent and in accord with the
interests of the country and aspirations of the
people.
Now the electoral system is not only flawed in
Pakistan but it is outright wicked and monstrous. The
elections are blatantly rigged. The ballot boxes are
not only stuffed with ballots of the strong candidates
but the ballot boxes are swapped. The bogus votes are
cast without any let or hindrance.
But what makes the electoral system in Pakistan a
sheer mockery is that the serfs, tillers, and bonded
farm labors cannot vote against the local lords be it
a petty landowner or a super duper feudal. Moreover,
because of the deprivation, poverty, inferior social
status, the votes for a pittance can be easily
purchased.
The Thana culture pays its pernicious part. A common
man in villages and slums of the cities cannot have
enough courage or clout to defy the dictations of
policeman who is usually henchmen of mill owner, a
retired bureaucrat, a ruthless feudal lord and the
government functionaries.
The clan, the biradari system, the family and blood
relations, the kinship plays an overwhelming role to
tilt the results in favor of corrupt, morally
bankrupt, degenerate leaders.
Such elected representatives use their influence and
power to enhance their wealth, get lucrative
contracts, and benefit their relatives and friends in
several ways. They break and bend laws for amassing as
much money as he can. In his brazen loot there are
other partners that share the booty. It is this spooky
and perverted and wholly faulty system that Dr.
Qadri wants to rein in and make it transparent and
clean.
Now if PMLN leadership denounces his endeavor as
derailing the democratic bandwagon then it is a
partisan assessment because a democratic order must
spawn and produce honest and patriotic leaders who are
dedicated to the welfare of the people and not filling
their own coffers already brimming with ill-gotten
wealth.
Dr. Qadri has rocked the prevailing rotten system and
its proponents and that is why there is cacophonies
hue and cry to revile him as being a foreign agent or
enemy of democracy and with a hidden agenda aimed at
postponing the elections. His mission is somewhat akin
to the social activist Anna Hazare of India who
single-handed rallied the entire India against the
menace and curse of corruption. He may not fully
achieve the ultimate objectives of his crusade but at
least he has blazed a trail that would serve as a
beacon and the first vigorous assault on financial
immodesty that is as widespread in India as it is in
Pakistan.
Let us hope that Dr. Qadri stands his ground firmly
and does not budge under any threat or pressure. If he
can assemble half of the promised four million
protesters and marchers for his rally in Islamabad, he
would have made the dent in the powerful citadels of
the corrupt, greedy law breaking, exploitative classes
and individuals in power. The rest could be a self
propelling trail of landmark developments that might
pave way for a Pakistan that we all dream to be. If he
is arrested that might open a Pandora box of hazardous
ramifications. Is that what the government would
expect to postpone the elections to stay in power till
the dust settles down? Who knows! |
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