Viewpoint: The gathering of troublemakers

Sheikhul Islam Allama Tahirul Qadri of Canada has been busy collecting like-minded elements as he prepares for his January 14 rabble rousing march on Islamabad. The MQM has been an eager participant right from the beginning of his campaign to derail the democratic system. Prominent leaders of the party adorned the front row at his Minar-i-Pakistan kick-start event.

Now the establishment’s old player, the Q League, has also joined the team. Flanked by Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Mushahid Hussain, the party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain told reporters with a straight face, “after a discussion with Dr Qadri we believe that his mission is not against any individual but against injustices and those who do not pay taxes.” Coming from that personage the words would be laughable but for the context. The vocabulary is different but excuse the same that has been used to justify every extra-constitutional intervention in the past.

These parties, even the PTI, have been making the absurd argument that no one should have any objection if they want to support the good things that Qadri demands. Chaudhry Shujaat went on to state that if implemented Dr Qadri’s proposals about an independent and honest caretaker government would strengthen electoral and democratic systems. He conveniently forgets that his party as well as the MQM was part of the Parliament when it gave unanimous approval to the 20th Constitutional Amendment that empowered the Election Commission to function as an independent entity and hold fair and transparent elections. The same amendment also laid down the procedural details for the setting up of an impartial caretaker government to oversee elections. Not a single vote was cast against the amendment. Why did it not occur to these parties to suggest reform then? Why it is only at the urging of Qadri that they have realised the need for it and join in his ‘mission?’

The mission (its stated objectives-related demands have kept changing), as Qadri articulated at a rally he jointly addressed with MQM chief Altaf Hussain at his party’s famous Nine Zero address in Karachi, is to press for electoral reforms before elections. In other words, the trio is challenging the Constitution and the democratic system functioning under it. So far as Qadri is concerned as a foreign national, he is not qualified even to stand for an assembly seat, and hence has no business to demand restructuring of a system in which he has no place. And for threatening to launch “Tahrir Square” like agitation to seek postponement of the constitutionally mandated elections, he ought to be put on the first plane back to his adopted country, Canada.

It is more than obvious that the electoral reform slogan is only a ruse to undermine the democratic process. The MQM and the Q League, of course, know that if at all any radical electoral reforms are to be made, the only democratic way for that is to participate in the upcoming elections, and try and introduce the change through Parliament. Regarding some of the things the Maulana and the Q Leaguers have named they want addressed, such as weeding out candidates who do not pay their taxes, the ECP already has the authority to take necessary action.

For the past five years, the MQM has been a coalition partner of the ruling PPP, a party dominated by feudal class, both at the centre and in Sindh. Yet at his Tuesday’s speech alongside Qadri, the party chief Altaf Hussain iterated his usual anti-feudalism and ‘real democracy’ rhetoric. He then let the proverbial cat out of the bag, asking the Army to support the ‘revolution.’ He has given such calls before, but in the present context it amounts to instigating the Army to disobey the government in violation of its constitutional obligations.

The PTI is playing a mysterious game, maintaining a soft stance towards Qadri and yet declaring emphatically that it won’t allow postponement of elections. It should take a clearer position. Apparently, the party has purposefully adopted an ambiguous line, thinking that since Qadri has a large following as a spiritual leader that could go in its favour at the election time. The fact of the matter is that although Pakistan is a deeply religious society, people do not mix religion with politics. They vote for the mainstream parties keeping religious parties to the periphery.

Major political players will not allow any disruption to the hard won democratic process. The PPP information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has advised Qadri to forward his electoral reform recommendations to the Election Commission of Pakistan, and refrain from resorting to any unconstitutional move for attaining his purposes. PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif had interesting comments to make on the subject. Offer prayers after Mullahs, he told a public meeting in Mandi Bahauddin, but never vote for them as, he said, some of them are following a foreign agenda. Jamaat-i-Islami deputy chief Sirajul Haq reacted the strongest, saying Qadri and the MQM wanted to postpone the upcoming general elections through the proposed long march, “but the nation would not let them do so.” If elections are postponed, he averred, a second Bangladesh would come into being.

Even though the march on Islamabad scheduled for January 14 aims to use democratic freedom to damage democracy, it should be allowed to take place unhindered as long as it stays peaceful. Its organisers, of course, will try to create a situation that could be exploited for their real purposes. Society has come a long way since the days of extra-constitutional interventions. Past is another country. The judiciary is not the same which revoked the ‘doctrine of necessity’ to endorse every extra-judicial intervention; one of the things it did soon after restoration was to give a historic judgement closing out any future legitimisation of an illegal dispensation. Unlike the past, none of the major political parties is likely to give a nod and wink to the-powers-that-be to dismantle the democratic edifice. A robust media fiercely defends democracy. And of course, the civil society has always fought for democracy. Try as they may, the drama the smaller players are getting ready to stage will create some commotion but not the intended impact. Let Qadri and company bring on their show.