Daily Times

Blessed with the gift of the gab, Dr Tahirul Qadri is highly respected and widely followed across the globe. The touch of politics in his purely religion-oriented mode of life, initially, raised many controversies as many of his staunch followers criticised his decision to indulge in politics. However, with the passage of time and with his extraordinarily convincing capabilities, Qadri succeeded in getting himself accepted as a religio-political leader with an agenda of reforming the system. Dr Qadri is also privileged enough to be a student of law and therefore he knows precisely which constitutional issues, according to him, need to be corrected. In the past few years, Dr Qadri has been successful in gaining considerable political momentum and the recent bureaucracy-sponsored inhumanity displayed in Model Town, Lahore, has virtually brought him to the zenith of his political career as his followership has expanded beyond a specific religious circle. Qadri alone could never have managed this level of political strength — undoubtedly, the administrative mismanagement displayed by the bureaucracy and wrong advice to our political leadership have catalysed the whole process.

Qadri is not the only one talking about reformation and change in government; Imran Khan is also raising a similar voice by giving a one-month deadline to the government. And let us not forget to mention Sheikh Rasheed (though he has only one seat in the National Assembly) who is also advocating a similar political move. Dr Tahirul Qadri’s agenda of revolution is of particular importance because of his religious background.

The closest example in recent history of a religious-political leader bringing about a revolution can be traced back to Iran. Khomeini’s revolution, just like any other revolution, was bloody and killed dozens and dozens of people in order to ‘correct’ the system; at that time, there was only one punishment in Iran and that was death. Bringing about a revolution requires a different level of followership and commitment from the masses, which Dr Qadri does not have.

In this scenario, if we analyse the proposed bloodless revolution by Dr Qadri, we see certain considerable issues in it. First of all, the very idea of bringing a bloodless revolution is a contradiction — either it is not going to be a revolution or it will have to be stained with blood. Secondly, Dr Qadri has been viewed as pro-western because of which his followership lacks the millions and millions of people who would follow a reformist, rightly or wrongly, with a clear anti-western stance. Therefore, the possibility that Dr Qadri can turn the system topsy-turvy is almost non-existent. However, in view of the recent display of power in Model Town, blood politics cannot be completely ruled out because the civil administration has proved that it has the capability of handing out surprise opportunities to opposition leaders.

The best way forward, to satisfy Dr Qadri’s revolution urge, is that he join hands with Imran Khan so that the energy of these two revolution preachers is synchronised and then, in the national interest, they should sit with the government to chalk out a framework. Since the government has initiated many public benefit projects with positive economic implications, especially in the field of electricity and transportation, it would not be to the benefit of the citizens of Pakistan to witness an upheaval against the government, especially in the backdrop of the Waziristan operation.

On the other hand, there are several steps that should be taken by the government as well. First of all, the officers responsible for the Model Town incident should be punished in a way that not a shadow of doubt remains in the minds of opposition parties and the general public who think that this whole event was orchestrated by the political leadership. Secondly, the government should take a second look at its political advisors and bureaucratic team because, so far, they have gone against the political vision of the prime minister. A fresh team of individuals would be more effective towards reconciliation and political harmony. However, if no solution is found for this political crisis we will see a lot of disturbance in the political scene in the near future. No one can predict the success or failure of any political movement but one thing is for sure: it is going to divide the concentration of the government and all its plans for the public welfare will be negatively affected. There is a very bright chance that if efforts are made from both sides an amicable solution can be found to get out of this quagmire.

The author is a Director PID