(Adds comments from interior minister)
By Mubasher Bukhari
ISLAMABAD, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Pakistani security forces
fired shots in the air on Tuesday to quell supporters of a
populist Muslim cleric calling for the resignation of the
beleaguered government while the interior minister dismissed his
demands as unconstitutional.
Sufi cleric Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, believed to be backed by
Pakistan’s powerful military, has brought tens of thousands of
followers to the capital Islamabad to demand the resignation of
top political leaders in the civilian government and electoral
reforms to stamp out corruption.
“We will not accept Qadri’s pressure because his demands are
unconstitutional,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told local
television channels shortly after security forces fired in the
air and used tear gas to try and control protesters backing the
cleric. The rally began on Monday and many of the protesters had
stayed on the streets overnight.
Live television coverage showed forces firing in the air – a
serious escalation in attempts to disperse crowds – while
supporters of the cleric hurled stones at them.
A spokesman for Qadri said his supporters had prevented
government forces from arresting him. The cleric recently
returned home from Canada to lead a call for reforms that have
made him an instant hit among Pakistanis disillusioned with the
state.
The spokesman said six supporters of the cleric were
wounded.
Qadri, who says elections scheduled for this spring should
be delayed indefinitely until Pakistan’s endemic corruption is
rooted out, may not pose any immediate threat to the U.S.-backed
civilian government, but his protest is the latest in a series
of challenges for the administration.
Tens of thousands of Pakistani Shi’ite Muslims began burying
the victims of a sectarian attack in a mass grave on Monday,
ending an extraordinary three-day protest over one of the worst
sectarian attacks in the country’s history.
People from Shi’ite Hazara community had been holding vigil
next to the bodies of the 96 people killed in Thursday’s
bombings in the city of Quetta to demand better protection from
a rising tide of such attacks. The Shi’ite leaders only agreed
to hold the burials after Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf
travelled to the provincial capital and agreed to some of their
demands.
The government is also struggling to control Taliban
insurgents based near the border with Afghanistan. Last week,
the army became embroiled in another low-level skirmish with old
enemy India along a ceasefire line dividing the disputed
territory of Kashmir.
DIVIDED
Qadri’s campaign has divided Pakistanis. Some hold him up as
a champion of reform, others see him as a possible stooge of the
military, which has a history of coups and interfering in
elections.
But he has suddenly emerged as a wildcard in the run-up to
elections while the government is under fire for failing to
tackle the Taliban insurgency, ease crippling power cuts and
eradicate widespread poverty.
Qadri has fired up mostly middle and lower class Pakistanis
who have gathered in central Islamabad’s business district near
parliament, and highlighted growing frustrations with the ruling
Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP).
His platform hinges on a demand that the judiciary bars
corrupt politicians from running for office and that the army
plays a possible role in the formation of a caretaker government
which is due to manage the run-up to elections this spring.
The elections, if they proceed on time, could cement
Pakistan’s transition from military rule by marking the first
time a civilian-led government has completed a five-year term
and handed over power at the ballot box.
So Pakistan’s current civilian leaders will be reluctant to
step down even if Qadri gathers more momentum.
Few believe Pakistan’s military has the appetite for another
coup, especially since the Supreme Court has been standing up to
the generals.
But the army would be happy to see figures like Qadri
highlight the government’s flaws, and perhaps play a
behind-the-scenes role supporting him, analysts say. The
military denies backing Qadri.
Qadri denies any relationship with the military but his
insistence that the army might play a useful consultative role
in the formation of a caretaker government has raised
suspicions.
(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
