Dawn – SC discards Qadri’s petition challenging Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reconstitution

Islamabad, 13 February 2013. The Supreme Court on Wednesday discarded the petition filed by Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) chief, Dr Tahirul Qadri, seeking reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), DawnNews reported.

The court said Qadri had failed to convince the bench over his petition and the intentions behind filing it.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the petition.

Earlier during the hearing, the court had asked the TMQ chief as to how his fundamental rights had been violated with the current makeup of the commission.

In his remarks, the chief justice had said a number of political parties were not part of the current parliament but they had not expressed any reservations on the ECP’s constitution.

The chief justice had also inquired as to how the TMQ chief had suddenly returned from Canada to question the commission’s organisation, adding that Qadri would have to convince the bench over his sincerity in the matter.

The bench had moreover questioned Qadri as to how his fundamental rights had been violated with the current makeup of the ECP.

The bench had questioned the petitioner as to when he was elected as a member of the National Assembly, responding to which Qadri had said he was elected as a representative from NA-127 in 2002.

The court had also asked the TMQ chief as to when he acquired Canadian citizenship and the chief justice had later remarked that Qadri did not identify himself as a Pakistani when abroad.

Responding to which, Qadri had said he believed that he was being tried for being a dual national and that his loyalty to Pakistan was being questioned.

Also during the hearing, Qadri had waved a photo of the oath-taking ceremony of the chief justice from former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. In response to which, the bench had barred the TMQ chief from continuing his arguments.

A series of dialogues had been exchanged between the bench and Qadri and the chief justice had said the cleric had ridiculed the court, adding that the petitioner’s intentions appeared to be malafide.

Moreover, Attorney General Irfan Qadir had argued that Qadri satisfied the requirements in terms of locus standi, adding that the petitioner’s intentions could not be questioned in the absence of evidence to support the claim of insincerity.

An argument had also ensued between the attorney general and the chief justice over whether Qadri’s plea to reconstitute the election commission months prior to the upcoming polls could be considered as sincere.

Earlier on Tuesday, the issue of locus standi (right to appear) was discussed by the apex court.

Qadri had apparently failed to establish that he had the right to knock at the doors of the Supreme Court and seek the ECP’s reconstitution.

“Dr Sahib our anxiety is that you are not an ordinary individual but a jurist, a scholar, rather Sheikhul Islam, and deliver lectures in over 90 countries to bring people to the folds of Islam, but you are showing allegiance not only to Queen Elizabeth but also her successors,” Chief Justice Iftikhar had said on Tuesday.

“This petition of yours asks us to think over these issues,” the chief justice had stated and had repeatedly asked how Qadri could attack a constitutional institution by approaching another institution when in a third country he was not a Pakistani.

http://dawn.com/2013/02/13/qadris-petition-over-ecp-reconstitution-sc-resumes-hearing/

Dawn – Government rejects Qadri’s demands; declares them unconstitutional, unlawful: sources

Islamabad, 15 January 2013. The government on Tuesday declared the demands made by Tahirul Qadri, chief of Tehrik-i-Minhaajul Quran (TMQ), unconstitutional and unlawful and refused to accept them, DawnNews quoted sources as saying.

The government’s position came through after Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf held an emergency meeting in the wake of the developments since the arrival of Qadri and his supporters in Islamabad.

The meeting, which was attended by Khurshid Shah and several other federal ministers, decided to reject the demands put forward by the TMQ chief and declared those as unconstitutional and unlawful, DawnNews quoted sources as saying.

Qadri’s deadline to the government to voluntarily resign and dissolve all assemblies has also expired.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the TMQ chief had addressed tens of thousands of protesters in Islamabad giving the government until 11 am to resign and dissolve all assemblies.

“This president and prime minister…they are now ex-presidents and prime ministers. Their time is over. Dissolve the national and provincial assemblies by the morning. I am giving you until 11 am to step down or else the people will start making their own decisions,” Qadri had said.

“These millions of supporters have spoken. They have rejected your so-called mandate. You are no longer their representatives.”

A large crowd of supporters, by some estimates between 25,00 to 50,000, had poured into the federal capital early on Tuesday, led by Qadri, a cleric who many accuse of trying to sow political chaos ahead of elections.

Qadri, a Pakistani-Canadian who returned to Pakistan last month after years in Toronto, accuses the government of corruption and incompetence, and calls for sweeping reforms to be enacted by a caretaker administration before polls.

http://dawn.com/2013/01/15/govt-rejects-qadris-demands-declares-them-unconstitutional-unlawful-sources/

Dawn – PML-N sees conspiracy behind Dr Tahirul Qadri’s return

Islamabad, 25 December 2012. The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz sees a conspiracy behind the ‘launching’ of Dr Tahirul Qadri just before elections and believes that he has been brought back to the country to target the PML-N and block its way forward.

The allegations were levelled by PML-N leaders, including its chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, at a function held at the party’s central secretariat to mark the birth anniversary of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, birthday of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Christmas on Tuesday.

Almost every speaker criticised Dr Qadri and accused him of working on the agenda of some internal and external forces to derail the democratic process in the country.

Without naming Imran Khan, the PML-N chairman said that after his failure to deliver, the forces which had supported the referendum of former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf had now introduced a “new pawn” on the political chessboard. He said he was surprised by the amount of money used by Dr Qadri for the success of his Sunday’s public meeting in Lahore. He said Dr Qadri should tell the nation that from where he had got this amount of money to organise such a big show because “such resources are not available even to governments”.

Commenting on Dr Qadri’s slogan “save the state, not politics”, PML-N Senator Zafar Ali Shah said his party would save both the state and politics, adding that the PML-N believed that a state could not survive without politics. “The very existence of the state will be at stake if you exclude politics from it.”

MNAs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Anjum Aqeel Khan and the party’s former information secretary Siddiqul Farooque also spoke on the occasion.

Talking to Dawn, Zafar Ali Shah said he saw “international intrigue, internal conspiracy” behind the move to bring Dr Qadri to the country to create chaos.

When asked why the PML-N was feeling threatened, he said the party did not consider him a political threat, but he could be a threat to the democratic system in the country. Dr Qadri had said that elections could be delayed, if necessary, but the PML-N and other democratic parties believed that any delay could prove disastrous for the country, he added.

http://dawn.com/2012/12/26/pml-n-sees-conspiracy-behind-qadris-return/