(Muhammad Tahirul Qadri (C) , leader of Mihaj-ul-Quran movement speaks before a protest march from Lahore to Islamabad January 13, 2013.? REUTERS/Mani Rana)
A month ago, Muhammad Tahirul Qadri was living quietly in Canada, immersed in the affairs of his Islamic charity and seemingly far removed from the pre-election power games shaping the fate of politicians in his native Pakistan.
In the past three weeks, he has returned home to lead a call for electoral reforms that has earned him instant celebrity, sent a stab of anxiety through the ruling class and raised fears of trouble at a planned rally in Islamabad on Monday.
?Our agenda is just democratic electoral reforms,? Qadri told Reuters in the eastern city of Lahore, the headquarters of his Minhaj-ul-Quran religious foundation. ?We don?t want the law-breakers to become our lawmakers.?
Qadri?s 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.
But his sudden ascent has prompted speculation that the military, which ruled Pakistan for decades, may be using him as a proxy to delay the polls and install a compliant interim administration to serve at the generals? pleasure.
Read the full story by Matthew Green and Mubasher Bukhari here.
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