After losing the battle for reconstitution of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the Supreme Court, Dr Tahirul Qadri, chief of Tehrik-e-Mihajul Quran (TMQ) has decided to organise countrywide rallies to create awareness among masses to reject the corrupt in the upcoming general elections.
The Canada-based cleric will take to the streets on February 15 with the same zeal and spirit to meet his objective to bar fake degree holders, tax evaders and loan defaulters from contesting the next elections. Talking to Business Recorder over phone from Lahore, TMQ spokesman Qazi Faiz said that they had decided to hold countrywide rallies against corrupt political lot, who were holding the whole country hostage and added 'there is no one we can appeal to'.
"The apex court was the last ray of hope for us. And now we have no option except to raise the issues confronting the country before the people of Pakistan," he added. "We went to the court seeking relief for the whole nation, but the court disappointed us," he added. He said that in the first phase of the countrywide rallies, Dr Qadri will address a mammoth rally in Gujranwala on February 15. The next rally will be held in Faisalabad on February 17, while on 22nd of this month, the city of Multan will greet Sheikul Islam.
Qazi said that TMQ chief will proceed to Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after completing his Punjab tour. About the success of the planned rallies in different provinces of the country, he said that the rallies will pull more crowds than its mammoth rally at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore.
However, critics have begun to dismiss Qadri's factor in the country's politics and term the TMQ chief desire to show of strength in different cities of the country as 'mere face-saving'. The TMQ spokesman said "The real challenge is free, fair and transparent elections, for which we'll not compromise...we want transparent polls, and the elements hatching conspiracies to rig the polls, will not be given a free hand."
When contacted a spokesman of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said, "Why should we take shelter under TMQ...we are not conspirators. We don't believe in closed-door talks like majority of other parties .... We are just waiting for the elections, which will change the political chessboard of the country altogether," she added.