PAKISTAN PROTEST TO GO AHEAD DESPITE THREATS : CLERIC
LAHORE, Pakistan, Jan 12, 2013 -An influential Pakistani religious leader --Dr Tahirul Qadri-vowed Friday to press ahead with a mass protest march on the capital to demand key reforms before looming elections.
Mr Qadri descended on Pakistan last month suddenly, nearly seven years after he moved his hearth and home to Canada.
“No one should harbour any doubt, there will be march, as scheduled, on time,” Tahir-ul Qadri, 61, told a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore.
He leads a moderate Islamic group that has thousands of followers in Pakistan and abroad.
The government says the Taliban are planning to attack the march and that protesters will be barred from the centre of Islama-
Media reports have suggested that Qadri is being used by foreign intelligence agencies and the army in a bid to delay the elections
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“Let them seal Islamabad, we will open our routes.”Qadri accuses the government of being corrupt and incompetent, and argues that Pakistan must enact “meaningful” reforms before general elections, which are scheduled to be held within eight weeks after parliament disbands in mid-March.
It remains unclear how many people will join the march from Lahore to Islamabad, a journey of 300 kilometres (190 miles). According to reports thousands are gahtering to join in the march
Organisers say they will leave on Sunday and travel slowly, stopping at villages en route.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which is part of the coalition government, has bowed out of the march, citing “serious security threats” after suicide bombers killed 92 people in the southwestern city of Quetta on Thursday.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has called Qadri's march a “conspiracy to destabilise the government”.
Media reports have suggested that Qadri is being used by foreign intelligence agencies and the army in a bid to delay the elections, for which no date has been set.
The message seems clear" derail the democratic system on the pretext of cleaning up the mess, an exercise which the country's military has conducted several times in Pakistan's brief history” His subsequent stress on a role for both the military and the judiciary in choosing an interim government has sparked rumours that he probably had the backing of the military establishment.Qadri delivered a speech to tens of thousands of followers in Lahore on December 23, giving the government until January 10 to initiate reforms, claiming that the necessary “amendments” need only take a few months to enact.
Qadri leads Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran, the movement to follow the path of the Koran, which has a network of religious and educational institutions.
(Compiled from reports in AFP, BBC and CNN)