Minhaj-ul-Quran International and Pakistan Awami Tehreek jointly organized Public
Awareness Rally in Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi, on December 18, 2011, which was attended
by over one hundred thousand people. Public rally was the biggest event in the history
of Rawalpindi and Islamabad held against the corrupt and monopolistic electoral
system.
The proceedings of the rally got underway with the recitation from the Holy Quran
followed by Naat. Central leaders of MQI Rawalpindi Allama Umar Riaz Abbasi, Shamraiz
Khan Awan, and PAT Secretary General Anwar Akhtar Advocate conducted the proceedings
of the programme. The first session of the programme, which continued for two hours,
concluded at 1 a.m. The participants of the rally offered their prayers during the
break.
The second session of the programme started off after the Zuhr prayer. National
anthem was played on the occasion and all the people attending the public rally
stood up in the honour of the anthem. The chief highlight of the second session
was the keynote address of Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, which was
telecast live from Canada. Minhaj TV showed all the proceedings of the mega event
throughout the world. National and international media also telecast the programme.
In his speech, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said that his thought
was opposed to that of many anchors, intellectuals, analysts and political commentators.
He said that electronic and print media always showed uniform picture in respect
of political consciousness. He said that the door to public awareness, which he
was opening, was never opened before and the subject was never brought under discussion
at any level. He asked the media to take up this issue in the larger public interest.
He said that he wanted to tell the people of Pakistan through the public rally that
if the incumbent system, which was being dubbed as ‘democratic, stayed intact, no
change would come about through it. He who would contest elections under the present
electoral system would fail.
The political parties, Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri added, accepted the system
because they had winning horses and the system protected their parochial interests.
He said that people would never be able to bring about change through their votes
as they did not possess the power to do so because vote was not an agent of change
in our political system. He said that vote was used as a façade to put in place
a fake democratic system.
Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said that he was urging people to
rise against electoral system out of his national and religious duty and not at
the behest of someone else. He said that the current system had snatched people’s
livelihood, their sovereignty, their integrity and paralysed them. He categorically
stated that real change was not possible through current electoral system. He said
that the system was geared towards protecting the interests of the ruling elite
with nothing to offer to the poor masses. He said that the system had kept 180 million people
shackled. He asked the people that the time to act and cause the change happen was
now. However, he made it clear that the change he was talking of did not merely
mean change of the government, rather the change of the corrupt and oppressive and
unjust electoral system.
Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said that the current electoral system had become
cancerous, which required surgery of the finest order to cure the body politic.
The country needed a surgeon who was well aware of the intricacies of the disease.
A new national government should be constituted, consisting of people with proven
record of honesty and character, which should function under the Constitution and
give a new social contract.
Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that no institution other than Supreme Court of Pakistan
could pave the way for establishment of national government. Underlining the need
of democratic reforms, he said that he aspired to have a Pakistan, which was free
from affliction of terrorism and did not have any threats to the national security
from outside. He said that it was unfortunate that Pakistani society was neither
democratic, nor Islamic, nor even humanitarian.
Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said that our political system had
consistently been eating into the vitals of Constitution and we were still adamant
to get it acknowledged as ‘democratic’. He said that dubbing Pakistan as a democracy
was an insult to democracy itself. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that the present system
was not ‘Jamhooriat’ (democracy) but ‘majbooriat’ (compulsion). Urging the people
to reject it, he said that Pakistan had gone many notches up on the global corruption
index and even left Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ethiopia behind.
Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri warned the people of the dangers of being back riders
who did not know the captains of the ship nor their intentions. If people continue
to remain indifferent, the shipwreck was but a sure inevitability. He said that
he wanted to see a moderate, peaceful and modern Pakistan, which should neither
go to war with the US nor should play lackey to it. He said that we would have to
become a nation capable of taking independent decisions. He declared in manifestly
clear terms that PAT would not take part in elections. However, he added in the
same breath that it would keep on knocking at the doors of people’s consciousness
for change in the system because it was the only way to make things better for the
masses.
Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said that he wanted Pakistan to be such a country
as spends 10% of its Gross Domestic Product on education and health each. There
should be mobile courts, which dispose off cases within three days. He said that
the nation should beware that if change did not come now, the country would further
slide into abyss of darkness. If the nation wanted a real change, it should take
to streets and rise up against the corrupt electoral system. The political system
being dubbed as democracy would further add to people’s disappointments even if
parliaments continued to emerge from it for many decades.
Shaykh-ul-Islam said that this exploitative system had taken away from people
their honour, respect, basic necessities of life, and right to accountability and
even to life itself. The desire of leaving a better legacy for the succeeding generations,
installing a real democracy and a real change would not be fulfilled without sending
this electoral system packing. This system was an instrument periodically used to
vote the elite into the corridors of power. He further said that he was neither
opposed to political parties nor their leaderships but the very system, which was
the mother of all problems.
Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that it was regrettable that Pakistan society was neither
developed nor developing rather it was declining. It was more a crowd of people
without any national purpose, which could bind them together. He said that 80% of
people were worried for making their both ends meet, while 60% of them did not take
any part in politics. He said that 40% of the people were persuaded to vote through
stick and carrot method.
Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said that never in the world did a
member of parliament have any development funds. Development, he said, was responsibility
of the government departments, which had the power to question MNA’s overstepping
the line but in Pakistan MNA was all in all.
Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that freedom of expression was the basic right of media.
When the dictators come into power, they gag media, while the so-called civilian
leaders turn media into chattering box with little effect on them and their governance
styles etc. He said that he regarded the electoral system as being responsible for
the current predicaments for the country and its people.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary General of Minhaj-ul-Qaruan Dr Raheeq Ahmad
Abbasi said that MQI and PAT had launched a countrywide campaign to uproot the current
electoral system and the public awareness rally in Rawalpindi was the first link
in the same chain. He said that massive turnover of people in the rally was an indication,
that people were ready for change. He said that Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri
was guiding the nation at this difficult and critical juncture of history. He said
that the day was not far when people would join the ranks of PAT and MQI and send
the corrupt and exploitative system home.
Allama Ali Ghazanfar Kararvi, Secretary General of Tehreek Ulama-e-Pakistan,
Sehikh Zahid Fayyaz, Ahmad Nawaz Anjum, Sayyid Ibrar Qadri, Chaudhry Lehrasib Gondal,
Mustaq Shurwardi, Noshaba Zia, Baber Chaudhry, Tajjamal Hussain, and others also
spoke on the occasion.
Amir-e-Tehreek Sahibzada Faiz-ur-Rehman Durrani, Dr Raheeq Abbasi, Sheikh Zahid
Fayyaz, G.M. Malik, Fakher-uz-Zaman Aadil, Mirza Muhammad Asif Qadri, Ahmad Nawaz
Anjum, Brig (R) Dr Obaidullah Ranjha, Sayyid Ibrar Qadri, Chaudhry Lehrasib Gondal,
Mustaq Shurwardi, Noshaba Zia, Baber Chaudhry, Tajjamal Hussain, and other leaders
graced the main stage.
Foolproof security arrangements were made with the cooperation of local administration
and police. Separate entry points were made for entry of male and female participants.
Highlights
Fool-proof security arrangements were made. State of the art security system
was installed at the entry gates.
Elite force personnel performed security duty around the main stage.
Special stands were erected in front of stage for electronic coverage of
the programme.
The participants were carrying flags of PAT and banners bearing slogan change.
Umar Riaz Abbasi invited Shaykh-ul-Islam to deliver his address.
Shaykh-ul-Islam led a prayer for the soul of those martyred during the NATO
attack and for security and stability of Pakistan.
The keynote address of Shaykh-ul-Islam started at 2:25 p.m.
In the beginning of his speech, Shaykh-ul-Islam made it clear that the rally
was organized for the people and had nothing to do with the current political
situation prevailing in the country.
