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A moderate firebrand

Dr Tahirul Qadri is the new megastar of our media. At the same time, he is the bête noire of the old political parties, with the exception of the MQM. Fortunately, we do not need to wait to figure out what his sudden rise could do or undo in this country. By next Tuesday, the impact of his march on Islamabad should be clear. It can end in a moral victory for his call to cleanse the political system. The longish march may fizzle out due to several factors, including the harsh January weather. Or it may end as a draw that would justify Dr Qadri’s continued stay in Pakistan to keep up pressure on the ruling oligarchies.

Dr Tahirul Qadri is already a national figure, but not much is known about his team, which has proved its organisational skills beyond doubt. I came to know about their deep commitment by coincidence during the summer of 2012 when they sprang to life after The News published a piece written by me, ‘Peace and the prize’. The article mentioned that Abdul Sattar Edhi, Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri figured among nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize 2012. The admirers of these three personalities massively shared the article on the Internet, with some taking the opportunity to cast virtual votes for their respective Nobel nominee. Imran Khan received more endorsements, but it became clear that Dr Qadri too had a committed group of supporters.

In the weeks that followed, I wrote two pieces about the ‘tsunami’ and the ‘march to Waziristan’. Each time, Qadri’s supporters sent emails urging me to write about their chief’s efforts to bring a change in Pakistan, alerting me at the same time that Qadri would be launching his message at a rally in December. I was not convinced that there would be much interest in the subject. Besides, I was not qualified to express views on Qadri’s yet unclear plans.

The Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief not only fulfilled the promise conveyed through his followers, but the way he set the stands alight must have been beyond most people’s imagination. ‘A cat among pigeons’ was the caption of an op-ed piece in these pages. There is hardly a writer who has not expressed his or her view on the commotion unleashed by Qadri with his announcement of a historic march on Islamabad on January 14 for a change in the moribund political system. The two major political formations are in a spin at this sudden turn of events. Their smaller allies, particularly the MQM, has taken a bizarre position, forcing observers to wonder whether they want to uproot the setup in which they have been partners since the last election.

Since Tahirul Qadri’s ideas have been thoroughly dissected, if not torn to bits, by most political parties and op-ed writers, it is perhaps time to comment on the context rather than the specifics of his message. He is merely reflecting the state of confusion and self-contradiction that characterises Pakistani society today. For instance, we want an end to corruption and crony capitalism, but do not mind when we are their beneficiaries. The political parties pay lip service to tax reforms but cringe when these threaten their constituents.

The mass of people is beholden to deeply held prejudices and anachronistic customs, with a natural weakness for fundamentalist dogma. The small minority upholding liberal thought and behaviour remains attached to western notions of development and rule of law. In terms of political dispensation, Pakistan has a federal parliamentary system, but it has been turned into a presidential-cum-parliamentary model, with the centre trying, with diminishing success, to control the provinces.

Small wonder, then, that someone like Tahirul Qadri has seized the opportunity created by a general state of confusion to stage a spectacular comeback through jalsa, jaloos and dharna. And the nation is dumbfounded, except those who know better or who are on to something we know not. The result is the affliction of a vast majority by the conspiracy-theory syndrome, especially in a city that thrives on producing memos or rumours. Dr Qadri must believe in what he says, but to most other mortals his harangue represents a utopia, something inherently unrealistic and unachievable.

Qadri’s Minhaj-ul-Quran, or the Pakistan Awami Tehreek, is among the latest socio-political movements to be born in the fertile minds of South Asia’s Muslims. The first, Tehreek-e-Khilafat, took India by storm with its call for preservation of the caliphate in Turkey. It was successful in mobilising popular sentiment against British imperialism but withered away when the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, scrapped the monarchy as well as the caliphate.

The second well-known ‘tehreek’ was that of the Khaksars, founded by Allama Mashriqi, a versatile genius who sought to combine anti-imperialism with public service and resurgence of Muslim India, in a multi-faceted yet highly disciplined organisation.

The Khaksars went for a showdown with the pro-British Punjab government by calling for a march to the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore in March 1940. It ended with the death of around 200 Khaksars and a ban on the movement. Thereafter, Allama Mashriqi supported the Pakistan Movement, but revived the Khaksars after the ban was ultimately lifted by the British. Their tehreek was nonetheless sidelined by the major political parties, including the Muslim League.

Air Marshal Asghar Khan launched his Tehreek-e-Istiqlal with a clear political agenda but was unable to convert his popularity into electoral success. Asghar Khan has managed to create an aura of self-righteousness in the political life of this country, but the last we heard about his tehreek was that he had decided to merge it with the Tehreek-e-Insaf of Imran Khan.

The PTI suffers from the perennial problem of its predecessor tehreeks insofar as they do not present themselves as plain political entities but as reformist platforms to rid the polity of various ills. At a time when the electoral prowess of the Tehreek-e-Insaf is yet to be tested, the emergence of another tehreek on a crowded political stage is likely to compound the confusion.

What should one make of Minhaj-ul-Quran, a reformist religious grouping, now aiming under its leader to transform the political system – without contesting for political power? Lest we forget, Qadri’s detractors do not belong only to the old guard of Pakistani politics. Among his big foes is none else but yet another tehreek; you guessed it – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The writer is a former ambassador.

M. Saeed Khalid, "A moderate firebrand," The News. 2013-01-11.
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