Canadian authorities summon Qadri for violating oath

==================================== Karbala-e-Quetta | کربلائے کوئٹہ‎
onthe - 20th jan 2013 by Malik_Jee ‎*حقیقی رہنما* شہادت پروف کنٹینرز اور ائیر کنڈیشنڈ کمروں میں صوفوں پر بیٹھے انقلاب انقلاب کے نعرے لگانے والے کبھی حقیقی رہنما نہیں بن سکتے۔ نہ ہی وزیر اعظم یا گورنر صاحبان کے خصوصی طیاروں میں سفر کرنے والے ملت کی رہبری کے اہل ہیں۔ عوام کے ساتھ ہر حال اور ہر موسم میں موجود رہنا رہبر بننے کی پہلی شرط ہے تاکہ رہبر کو عوام کے دکھ اور درد کا احساس ہو۔ اگر رہبر عام لوگوں کے درمیان بیٹھنا کبھی گوارا ہی نہ کرے تو اسے ان لوگوں کے مسائل کا پتہ کیسے چلے گا؟ جب عوام VIP ہو جائے تب اگر لیڈر بھی VIP ہوں تو ٹھیک ہے۔ جب تک عوام زمین پر بیٹھنے والی ہو، تب لیڈر بھی وہی ہو جو زمین پر بیٹھنے کو پسند کرے..... By Web Desk Published: January 18, 2013 A file photo of MQI chief Tahirul Qadri taken during one of his religious lectures. Canadian authorities on Friday summoned Minhajul Quran International (MQI) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on February 5, and sought explanation from him for violating the oath he took while seeking asylum, Express News reported. The authorities said that Qadri violated the oath stating that he was not allowed to enter the country he had sought asylum from. According to Express News correspondent Shakeel Anjum, Abdul Shakoor Qadri, otherwise known as Tahir Qadri, had sought asylum from Canada in 2008, fearing threats to his life after he met with the Danish cartoonist responsible for making blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Qadri, through his lawyer Mendel Green, had requested that he was receiving death threats from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Sipah-e-Sahaba. On October 17, 2009, his asylum application was accepted, while he was issued the Canadian passport about six months back. The MQI chief has also been receiving welfare funds from the Canadian government, citing health issues. Qadri, who led a 5-day long march in Islamabad which concluded Thursday evening, is currently present in Pakistan. He is scheduled to fly back to Canada on January 27 along with his family. Correction: An earlier version of this article had incorrectly stated Royal Canadian Monitoring Police instead of Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The error is regretted. = Cleric Qadri to RT: 'I’m here to empower the people of Pakistan' Get short URL email story to a friendprint version Published: 18 January, 2013, 03:54 TAGS: Interview, Protest, Politics, Pakistan, Clashes, Violence Pakistani Muslim cleric Tahir-ul Qadri flashes victory signs during a protest rally in Islamabad on January 17, 2013. (AFP Photo/Asif Hassan) (104.0Mb) embed video The government of Pakistan is so corrupt that it has no means to ensure democratic processes, cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has told RT in an exclusive interview, urging reforms to "put the country on the right track." ­RT: Do you think the march will derail democracy in Pakistan, especially if the general election takes place within the next few months? Cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri: Democracy is not going to be derailed. It has already been derailed by corrupt political leaders. We want to put democracy on the right track. And we want to put democracy in place in its true letter and spirit. We don’t want any kind of delay in elections. The electorate reforms which I have suggested, they are already mentioned in the constitution of Pakistan. All the details which I am demanding are already there in the law, constitution and electoral laws. And the whole thing, my electorate reforms agenda has been endorsed by the supreme court of Pakistan in its judgment which was issued on the 8 June 2012. This year we just have to enforce these articles of the constitution and sections of electoral law and the judgment of the Supreme Court. It will not take more than a month to implement and we still have three months of caretaker government. So there is no chance of derailing democracy. Elections can take place on time. RT: You have accused the political leaders of Pakistan of corruption and other crimes. What do you expect to change? MQ: First of all, let me substantiate what I had stated. The majority of these people are corrupt. There is a department of the government, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and its chairman retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari is appointed by the president of Pakistan, Mr. Zardari himself. He has stated in his press conference and he has said in his official NAB statement that five thousand million rupees per annum are going to corruption. So these are the affectionate figures given by the government department. And at the same time it is declared and it’s not denied that seventy percent of members of Parliament in Pakistan are tax evaders. They do not bother to file tax returns. They conceal their source of income. So the corruption, there is nobody that can deny this reality. So our march and movement is anti-corruption to eradicate corruption from our society and indeed the whole Muslim world, the whole third world and developing Muslim countries. We have to get rid of corruption and corrupt leaders. We have to get rid of tax evaders and law breakers. This is why we have started this struggle as a Tahrir Square of Pakistan. Supporters of Pakistani Muslim cleric Tahir-ul Qadri flash the V-sign as they celebrate the victory of a demand for electoral reform at a protest rally in Islamabad on January 17, 2013. (AFP Photo/Asif Hassan) RT:You mentioned Egypt and some other countries, it’s a very famous saying “ the revolution is its own children” and what happened in Egypt, Libya and other countries, those who cause the revolutions, they are not the rulers now. Do you feel that the fruits of your efforts could go to somebody else? MQ: I do not think that somebody else will gain, because somebody else has no intention to take over power. They have lost a lot of their reputation because of past experiences and they, in fact, are not specialists at controlling civil society. They have not been trained for it. When I say a revolution, you should keep in your mind in Egypt, in Tunis, in Libya and all these countries, there was a military dictatorship for years and years, for a really long time and the people stood up against that. In Iran, it was the monarchical rule of the Shah, people stood up against that. Pakistan’s case is a little bit different, there is neither monarchical rule or a military dictatorship. Here it’s electoral authoritarianism. A dictatorship-democracy as far as the term exists. There’re political parties and they manipulate the elections to come back into parliament every five years. But true democracy does not exist in this society, neither in the political field, neither in social field, nor economic field. No democracy. The people are not in fact participating in the real process of democracy. They are not getting a job, they are not getting the rule of law. They are not getting protection of their life. There is no protection for their wealth and business. There are targeted killings. People are being kidnapped. You know in the last four days, 125 dead bodies have been sitting there without a burial. No state minister was there, no provincial government was there, no members of the assembly was there. Even the Prime Minister arrived there, four days later. So there is lawlessness, total chaos and anarchy in this country. Government is totally dysfunctional. So, this is the single nation, single country in the whole Muslim world having nuclear capability and if the same situation continues, that would be a very big disaster if we collapse. So we have to put democracy on the right track. We have to stabilize society on true basis of constitution and law. This is what this movement is for. RT: Don’t you feel that if force is used, a lot of innocent lives could be sacrificed? MQ: We have to stand up. The people have to stand up for their rights. People want a peaceful society. RT: But what if they used the force? MQ: I don’t think they are going to be able to. I know thousands of commandos have arrived from the government of Pundjab. Shabazz Sharif sent thousands of commandos this night. They have already made an attempt to drive us out – the first night that we had arrived here, and they were defeated. Our security guards and ladies moved in front of them and they ran away. They ran away. I know, and I tell you, thousands of commandoes have been sent from the government of Pundjab. And they’ve arranged more from the capital too. They are thinking of a joint venture but hundreds of thousands of people are sitting here, although, they are unarmed and peaceful. They do not have any weapons. But still, hundreds of thousands of people, despite of being peaceful, they are enough to stop these kind of terrorist attacks by the government. RT: There are a lot of question marks on how you fund your campaign and this march in particular. Do you receive any foreign aid or funds? MQ: A simple answer. Who funded revolution of Ahwan and people in Egypt? Who funded them? Who funded the people in Libya? Who funded the people in Tunis? These are the people. Who funded the people in Iran, in the very old days, when the people got up for revolution? They give their lives as sacrifice. But to talk about the money, every single poor person is selling his …we sold…we gave…I gave myself, my wife, my children, my daughters, my daughter in law, all of them, my whole family gave jewellery. The ladies give their jewellery, the girls give their jewellery. People are selling their house, their motorbikes , their cars, whatever savings they have, they are spending on publicity. They are spending everything for this purpose. Supporters of Pakistani Muslim cleric Tahir-ul Qadri celebrate the victory of a demand for electoral reform at a protest rally in Islamabad on January 17, 2013. (AFP Photo/Asif Hassan) RT: It is an open secret that the Americans and some western powers, have a role in shaping the political events and scenarios in Pakistan. How do you see their role and what is your strategy towards these Americans and these Western powers? MQ: This is because of this incompetent political leadership. If you have a competent leadership who fixes and prescribes and who knows that what are our supreme national interests and then it develops or formulates as foreign policy, exactly on the basis of our own national interest. Nobody in this world whether America or any other country is your permanent friend nor your permanent enemy. We don’t want to become the enemy of other countries and we don’t want other countries, including America to be our enemies. We want a fair, friendly relationship with them but at the same time, we want to safeguard our national interests. We want to become a peaceful country. We want to protect our neighbors and region and we want to participate in the development of peace for the whole world. RT: Some accuse you of pursuing a foreign agenda that you’re trying to implement here in Pakistan. How do you respond to these accusations? MQ: Can you tell me a single day when there is no crisis in Pakistan, when there is no targeted killing, where there is no bomb terrorist attack, when there is no kidnapping? Every single day is a day of crisis in the history of Pakistan because of the inability and incompetency of these rulers. My coming here, this is a farce accusation. I totally reject it. I totally rebut it, refute it. I do not come here with any agenda, my agenda is the nation of Pakistan. Some critics can say anything to anybody. Hosni Mubarak would have said the same thing to the revolutionary people of Egypt. Colonel Gaddafi would have said the same thing. So whenever you get up for change, the people who want to maintain the status quo, they make these types of allegations and tell lies. And this time, rising up and standing up for change and democratic revolution, it is the best time, because we do not want to disturb the political mandate of the current rulers. They got their five year term and we wanted them to complete their term. Now their term is up, almost complete. The elections are due in March, do you understand, their term is coming to an end. So without disturbing their term, we gave them time to deliver, if they could deliver anything, but they could not deliver to the people. So this is the best time to bring in electoral reforms before we enter the process of elections. If the elections take place according to the same corrupt practices and the same corrupt traditions as has been taken place throughout the history, it means the same corrupt people, with fake degrees, the law breakers, corrupt people, tax evaders like the PM, who’s arrest has been ordered by the Supreme Court, these terrible people will once again be in parliament and they will ruin this country for the next five years. So I think this time, is the best time to bring electoral reforms and then elections should take place within the time given by the constitution without any delay. RT: Do you have any political ambitions? MQ: I’m not here to empower myself, I’m here to empower the people of Pakistan. I’ve already declared that I’m not a candidate to become caretaker Prime Minister, absolutely not. ============ Analysis: Why Qadri must renounce Canadian citizenship By Niaz A Shah Published: January 19, 2013 Given Allama Sahib’s background, it can be safely assumed that his asylum claim was based either on political opinion or religion or both. PHOTO: AFP Dr Tahirul Qadri sought asylum in 2008 in Canada. The gist of the asylum claim, according to this newspaper, was based on alleged threats to his life from groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Sipah-e-Sahaba. The presence of Allama Sahib in Pakistan raises two issues: legal and moral. Legal: Under the UN Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act 2001 of Canada, individuals may claim asylum if they fear persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or belonging to a particular social group. Given Allama Sahib’s background, it can be safely assumed that his asylum claim was based either on political opinion or religion or both. For a successful asylum claim, the fear of persecution must be ‘well-founded’. Allama Sahib’s claim was found well-founded and asylum was granted. International protection (seeking asylum in another country) is temporary in nature and ceases when the circumstances giving rise to asylum cease to exist. The presence of Allama Sahib in Pakistan and his ability to compel the government to sign an agreement, mainly on his terms, demonstrate two things. First, that he can continue his political career without fear of persecution and second, the government can provide protection to him as and when needed. In such a situation, international protection (in the form of refugee status leading to Canadian citizenship) is no longer justified. The 951 Refugee Convention states: ‘This Convention shall cease to apply to any person … [who] has voluntarily re-availed himself of the protection of the country of his nationality [i.e. Pakistan]’. The Canadian authorities can revoke his refugee status as he has voluntarily come back to Pakistan. Or Allama Sahib can renounce his status himself. Moral: This brings us to the moral implications of the case. As Allama Sahib is no doubt a pious person and is espousing pious and upright political leadership, the option of giving up international protection (Canadian citizenship) would be most appropriate. If he continues to avail Canadian protection simultaneously with his heavy political engagement in Pakistan, and the fact that all those organisations, although proscribed, exist and are very active, ie, the threat is out there, it will raise doubts about the genuineness of his asylum claim in Canada. And also, both positions – refugee status in Canada and his choice to become politically active in Pakistan, a country which he left because of persecution – do not fit within the confines of refugee law. The author is a senior lecturer in law at the University of Hull, UK. Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2013. ========= Why Maulana Qadri and Cricketer Khan can’t save Pakistan By Pervez Hoodbhoy Published: January 18, 2013 The writer retired as professor of physics from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad Pakistan has two angry messiahs, the Maulana and the Cricketer. Both are men of fine oratory — the former being more gifted. They promise to kick wicked leaders out of government, reward the righteous, and deliver a new Pakistan. Before a coup-plagued nation that has spent many decades under military rule, they preach to adulating under-30 crowds about the corruption of the present rulers. But neither dares to touch Pakistan’s real issues. Both are careful to castigate only the corruption of civilians; there is nary a word about the others. Inspired by his fiery rhetoric, for four days the Maulana’s youthful Lashkar-e-Qadri had occupied D-Chowk, Islamabad’s version of Tahrir Square. The cheering, chanting, flag-waving crowd was joyous at the verdict ordering the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. The precise timing owed to another one of Pakistan’s putative saviours — the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan. In this age of discontent, assorted demagogues have mastered the art of mobilising the credulous masses. Corruption, say the Maulana and the Cricketer, is Pakistan’s central problem. Utopia will come if honest and pious men — perhaps themselves — are in power. But is crookedness and dishonesty the real issue? Countries which are perfectly viable and livable may still have corrupt governments. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been convicted of everything from tax fraud to soliciting minors for sex, and yet Italy keeps getting richer and better. No one dares call it a failed state. Mitt Romney — who Barack Obama only barely defeated — parked his assets in the Cayman Islands and paid only a little more tax than Pakistan’s unscrupulous parliamentarians. Corruption in the US is institutionalised to the point that Washington spent 10 trillion dollars of taxpayer money bailing out banks and corporations but no politician or CEO (with one exception) ended up behind the bars. Interestingly, according to the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), 70 per cent of the world’s people see their countries as more corrupt than good. So then, what are Pakistan’s real problems today? If the lives of Pakistanis are to be improved, what is it that really needs to be done? First, address the population problem. Demographers estimate the expected number of Pakistanis in 2030 at a staggering 258 million, which must be compared with 28 million in 1947 as well as the current population of 180 million. This growth is the second highest among major Muslim countries in the world. Even if we miraculously acquire the most perfect of political systems, it may be impossible to provide most Pakistanis with employment, education, food, housing, electricity, water, and a clean environment. Short of renting another planet, there is no way that the constraints of fixed land and water can be overcome. This emergency situation demands that population planning must be reinstated and contraceptives be made freely available. Once upon a time, Pakistan had a population planning organisation. But it has essentially folded up in the face of religious opposition. The Jamaat-e-Islami’s party manifesto, and those of other religious parties, specifically forbids family planning. As for the Taliban: they suspect that polio vaccines are designed to reduce Muslim fertility and so have issued dire threats. Last month, the TTP brought the immunisation programme to a halt by murdering five women and a man who were administering the shots in Karachi. So, instead of getting claps and cheers, our messiahs might have to face bullets and bombs should they dare to rally people around this real issue. Second, the terrorism of religious militias must be confronted head-on. Their daily slaughter of Pakistani soldiers and citizens, and recently the Hazara Shias, elicits only the barest whimper of protest in the media or the public. In shameful surrender, there is talk of negotiating with terrorist groups. The lesson of Swat — where kowtowing to Sufi Mohammed’s ever-escalating demands led to increased ferocity from the other side — is forgotten. The army and the state stand in muddled confusion. They know they should actually negotiate only from a position of strength and not in their present condition of weakness. Unfortunately they cannot summon the courage to do this. The Maulana is silent on this critical matter, but the Cricketer prefers to attack those who might target Pakistan’s enemies. He would rather shoot at the drones than the terrorists. Third, the promise of the messiahs that they shall bring prosperity to everyone by somehow equalising the distribution of wealth is fake and dishonest, and un-implementable. One would certainly welcome extending the tax net, and doing so would be a huge achievement. But to actually bring prosperity, wealth must be created rather than simply expropriated from somewhere. The only party that seems to give this any consideration is the PML-N. But industrial progress and a post-agricultural economy require cultural change, and so Pakistani society will need to transition from being a progress-unfriendly culture to one that welcomes and promotes progress. From the time of the 19th century German sociologist Max Weber, social scientists have observed that culture and progress go hand-in-hand. Progress-friendly cultures demand planning, punctuality, deferred gratification, belief in rationality, and the rule of law. Without acquiring these features, wealth generation is slow and uncertain. Fortunately, as it turned out, the ‘million-man march’ turned out to be a damp squib. Its victory would have resulted in indefinite postponement of the forthcoming national elections and Pakistan would have returned to a dreary tradition where no government has successfully completed its term in office. During the occupation, messiah-junior was caught in a dilemma. Eclipsed by his senior and unable to join in the demand for postponement, he now seeks to clamber his way back into the public eye. Pakistan’s restless young are out on the streets demanding change, but they must not become pawns of fake messiahs. The fist-shaking, rostrum-pounding orations of Maulana Qadri and Cricketer Khan are empty thunder; they offer nothing real. Of course, the D-Chowk youth rightly protested Pakistan’s pseudo-democracy and its venal and incompetent civilian leaders. But the military’s attempt to landscape national politics — which is probably what rocketed the Maulana into his present prominence — could be disastrous and would go the way of the army’s past failed interventions. At a time when Pakistan is seriously threatened by internal terror, the military would do well to perform its real duty which is that of protecting Pakistan’s people. ====================== Oath violation: Qadri to file appeal in Canadian federal court By Web Desk Published: January 19, 2013 File photo of Tahirul Qadri. PHOTO: AFP/ FILE Minhajul Quran International (MQI) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri has decided to file an appeal in the Canadian federal court after Canadian authorities summoned him for violating his asylum oath, reported Express News on Saturday. Qadri has hired four lawyers who will appear in the federal court on his behalf and will maintain that Qadri received complete security in Pakistan, said sources. Meanwhile, Qadri’s lawyer Mendel Green who had requested for Qadri’s asylum in Canada refused to contest the summon order issued by authorities. Canadian authorities had summoned Qadri on February 5, and sought explanation from him for violating the oath he took while seeking asylum. The authorities said that Qadri violated the oath stating that he was not allowed to enter the country he had sought asylum from. Qadri is scheduled to fly back to Canada on January 27 along with his family ==================== =============================