Tahirul Qadri announces seven-point agenda

Two days before his party’s long march for electoral reforms, Tahirul Qadri, chief of the Tehrik-e-Minhajul Quran (TMQ), has called for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to be dissolved and a new impartial commission to be formed.

Speaking at a press conference in Lahore on Saturday, Qadri announced his charter of demands before the upcoming general elections. Qadri said that the charter consists of seven points out of which one will be announced today and the rest will be revealed in Islamabad.

Among his demands, Qadri called for the formation of an impartial election commission to be formed in place of the current ECP. He said that apart from the chief election commissioner, all four heads of the provincial commissions were politically appointed by the provincial administrations.

He said CEC Fakhruddin G Ebrahim was an honest man, however, he would not be able to conduct impartial elections due to his old age.

The TMQ chief further demanded that polls be held according to Articles 62, 63 and 218 of the Constitution. He said the people would not accept elections if they are not held under these articles.

Qadri added that the door for negotiations was never closed, however, final negotiations would only be held in front of millions of people in Islamabad. He vowed that the long march would start from Data Darbar in Lahore and would take place as planned in spite of all hindrances.

He stated, “Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and the Supreme Court should take a suo motu notice of Interior Minister Rehman Malik on his statements of spreading terrorism. He should be arrested and sent to jail.”

Inviting leaders and workers of all political and religious parties of the country to his march, Qadri specially invited the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). He said that the leaders of PTI should join him as their slogan of “change” is the same as his.

He said that he does not want political workers to leave their parties, but wants them to take part in the change process to avoid regretting it later.

Tahirul Qadri announces seven-point agenda

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Posted by Web Desk on Jan 12 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.