1. Dr. Tahir Ul Qadri A well-read Muslim scholar, he has been living in Canada for seven years, Qadri is often been presented as a “moderate” Sufi scholar who famously wrote a 600 page fatwa against terrorism in 2010 which won him international applause.
However while his work to counter extremists has brought him his share of admirers, there hangs a question mark over the extent of Qadri's own moderating influence.
For example one video doing the rounds over the internet shows Qadri giving what appear to be two contradictory statements on blasphemy – the subject of so much controversy in Pakistan.
In one clip he is shown speaking in English where he says: “Whatever the law of blasphemy is, it is not applicable on non-Muslims. It is not applicable on Jews, Christians and other non- Muslims minorities. It is just to be dealt with Muslims.” Yet then in Urdu in a different clip he says: “My stance was that, and this was the law which got made, that whoever commits blasphemy, whether a Muslim or a non-Muslim, man or woman – whether be a Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, anyone – whoever commits blasphemy their punishment is death."
While he presents himself as a supporter of democracy and held a massive rally protest against the Pak government in 2013, he was elected to parliament under the previous dictatorship of General Pervez Musharaf in 2002.
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