Dissolve assemblies, go home: Qadri

* Says they will stay in capital until government is finished, all assemblies dissolved, all corrupt people ousted, a just constitution imposed, rule of law enforced

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Dr Tahirul Qadri on Monday gave the rulers a day to dissolve parliament as the people of Pakistan, he said, have withdrawn their mandate by taking part in his march on Islamabad.

Some 40,000 protesters, led by Dr Qadri, entered Islamabad late on Monday, with a pledge to stay until the present government is finished, all assemblies are dissolved, all corrupt people are ousted, a just constitution is imposed, rule of law is enforced, and true and real democracy is enforced. Dr Qadri told a charged crowd that their march had come to an end and the revolution had begun.

He warned the prime minister and the provincial chief ministers to send advices to president for dissolution of assemblies, failing which people will take ‘decision power’ into their own hands. He said the ‘fake’ mandate of the rulers had come to an end, and all the prime minister, all chief ministers as well as ministers had lost their offices.

He ordered the administration to shift within five minutes the venue for his speech to D Square in front of the parliament, as pledged to him by Interior Minister Rehman Malik. He asked President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Awami National Party President Asfandyar Wali and other political leaders to come to the rally and witness that the people of Pakistan had withdrawn the mandate given to them in last general election.

He said he will hold people’s assembly outside the Parliament House. He said people will start making decisions after his inaugural address to the revolutionary march at 11am today. Qadri said he had led the biggest march in the history of world. He warned PEMRA to unblock the television channels or get ready for people’s wrath. He appreciated the role of media in motivating people for a democratic change in the country. He said he had come to Islamabad with a mission that Imam Hussain (AS) went to Karbala against Yazeed.

Dr Qadri took oath from the participants that they will not leave the venue until he stays there. He said government has no option but to accept his demands. Qadri congratulated people for participating in such a huge number in the rally and said that their struggle will not go waste. He said thousands of his followers were deprived of transport and they were marching on foot towards Islamabad. He said they will wait for them to reach Islamabad and said he will address the rally today at 11am. The convoy left Lahore on Sunday and reached its destination after a long journey of 38 hours.

Earlier in the day, organisers of the march signed a deal with Islamabad’s deputy commissioner to allow Qadri and his convoy to enter the federal capital. Thousands of security officers were deployed in Islamabad to help protect government and diplomatic areas as hundreds started to gather in the city from early in the morning. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has repeatedly warned that the terrorists could launch an attack on the march. Mobile phone networks were shut down on the route of the convoy to avert any terrorist attack.

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