Qadri calls off Islamabad
sit-in By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
KARACHI - A four-day sit-in outside
Parliament House in Islamabad has ended after the
protest leader, Islamic cleric Tahirul Qadri, and
the government reached agreement over the
implementation of the protesters' four demands.
Qadri signed the Islamabad Long March
Declaration after several hours of negotiations
with a government delegation. The deal, ratified
by Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, led
thousands of demonstrators to
cheer and dance in the streets.
"I
congratulate you,'' Qadri told his supporters as
his announced on January 17 he was calling off the
protest. "Allah has given you victory. Today is
the day of victory for the people of Pakistan. You
should go home as peacefully as you came here."
Under the deal, the national assembly is
to be dissolved "at any time before March 16 so
that the elections may take place within 90 days".
The Pakistani government, led by the Pakistan's
People's Party, ends its five-year tenure on March
16, while according to the constitution, the
election is to be held within 60 days. The ruling
coalition also said it would consult with Qadri on
the nomination of the caretaker prime minister
ahead of elections.
The most important
part of the declaration was the provision of a
30-day period before the election for
pre-clearance and scrutiny of nomination papers by
the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) under
Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. It was
also agreed that deliberations on the composition
of the ECP will be held on January 27 in Lahore,
and that electoral reforms will be implemented.
President Asif Ali Zardari showed
statesmanship after the final deadline came from
Qadri on Thursday when he sent a 10-member
committee comprising representatives from the
ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and its
coalition partners with the task of averting
political crisis and dispersing a rally that had
piled pressure on the government.
Local
analysts believe that the negotiations held at
D-Chowk, the sit-in locatio, in a bullet-proof
container gave a face-saving oppurtunity for both
Qadri, who recently returned to Pakistan after
years in Canada, and the government.
"Qadri knows that he is in a difficult
situation after opposition parties rejected his
demands," Hasan Askari Rizvi, an independent
political analyst was quoted as saying by
Bloomberg. "This is also a crisis for the
government, so they may be able to find a middle
way, like an assurance the Election Commission
will carry out scrutiny in line with the
constitution to ensure honest candidates."
Critics say that the long march bubble
burst as a result of a deal that has actually made
Qadri a partner with the ruling coalition and
stakeholder in the nomination of caretaker prime
minister ahead of elections. It also paved the way
for an honorable exit for Qadri, who has denied
intense media speculation that he is backed by
Pakistan's military.
Qadri and his supporters
embarked on their march from Lahore late on
January 13 and arrived in Islamabad the following
day. The standoff between the government and the
protesters took many twists and turns. The
government on Wednesday declared Qadri's charter
of demands unconstitutional, while the country's
main political parties - both in the government
and opposition - joined in unison to vow to fight
all conspiracies to delay polls and derail the
democratic process.
Even Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf
(PTI), led by Imran Khan, took a u-turn by criticizing
Qadri's agenda. The protest march had come at
melting point on Wednesday after all the political
parties, civil society and media appeared to have
turned against Qadri's agenda. labelling his
demands as unconstitutional.
Daily Times,
the country's leading newspaper, commented,
The people of Pakistan may or may
not be happy with the performance of the
incumbent governments during the last five
years, but only uninformed and foolhardy
elements without an iota of understanding of our
past want to throw the baby of democracy out
with the bathwater of these governments. The
'crisis' engendered by these sinister
simultaneous moves aside, the demands of Qadri
have exposed his hand. He wants, as in the past,
the military and judiciary to settle the fate of
the country. Powerful as these institutions are,
this is neither their remit nor in accordance
with any constitutional or democratic
principle.
The government's warning
on Wednesday of an impending terror attack on
the protest rally triggered speculation that
something worst could happen at D-Chowk, the
administrative center which took on the appearance
of Cairo's Tahrir Square as thousands of
demonstrators crowded in. The presence of the
highly charged marchers also raised concerns about
the possibility of violent clashes leading to the
breakdown of law and order in the federal capital
- and ultimately bringing about military
intervention.
Electoral reform is
seen as a critical component of the agreement.
If sweeping reforms do not transpire before the
elections, all the corrupt tax evaders, loan defaulters
and fake degree holders would be able to
contest elections and reach parliament. While this is
Qadri's view, it is supported by all right-minded
people. Whether he is backed by the military
establishment or someone else, most of his demands
are the people's demands.
Voters in Pakistan are wary
of the present coalition government, which came to
power after 2008 elections, because it delivered
nothing but has set records in corruption. Bad
governance has eroded the efficiency of major
state-owned enterprises, while law and order
problems have taken a toll on foreign direct
investment.
The energy crisis has also worsened, inflaming
public anger and affecting industrial production. It
is also a common view that the country' s
financial and business hub of Karachi has been
turned into a center for crime, where extortionist
land and arms mafias call the shots and have taken
the whole city hostage.
Electoral
reforms are essential to sustain a genuine
democracy in a country where the intervention of
the military, abetted by the inefficiency,
incompetence and corruption of elected governments,
has interrupted progress in the democratic
process.
Syed Fazl-e-Haider
(www.syedfazlehaider.com ) is a development
analyst in Pakistan. He is the author of many
books, including The Economic Development of
Balochistan, published in May 2004. E-mail,
sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com
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