Tahir ul Qadri

Tahir-ul-Qadri is a Pakistani-Canadian politician and Islamic scholar. He was also a professor of international constitutional law at the University of the Punjab. Qadri is also the founding chairman of Minhaj-ul-Quran International and also of Minhaj Institute of Qira’at and Tafizul Quran.

Political career Qadri founded a political party called the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in May 1989. The main objective of the party was to provide law and order measures for the general public, respect for human rights, elimination of poverty and quality education for all. In 1990, members from the PAT contested for the general elections and later on Qadri was elected as a member of the National Assembly. However, he resigned from his seat on Nov 29, 2004.

Current statusIn December 2012, Qadri addressed a large audience at the Minar-i-Pakistan saying that the current system adopted by the government had failed and if the military intervened in the future, he would be the first Pakistani to protest against it.

He gave an ultimatum to the current government and further said that if the situation failed to improve until Jan 10, 2012, he would lead a long march to Islamabad.On Jan 1, 2013, Qadri with his newly-found ally, Altaf Hussain, chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), vowed to turn Islamabad into the Tahrir Square of Pakistan on Jan 14, 2013.

He said that on the aforementioned day ‘millions’ of peaceful demonstrators would pour into the capital to install what was described as a neutral and independent caretaker set-up for introducing what he called long overdue electoral reforms.