Pakistan in political turmoil, as Tahirul Qadri gives call for revolution

Islamabad, Jan 15: Pakistan was throwing into political turmoil today as the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf, even as Muslim cleric Maulana Tahirul Qadri led a huge demonstration to Parliament and gave a call for revolution. The Canada-based cleric led a "million march" to Islamabad, and in his hour-long speech, first in Urdu and then in English, castigated both the PPP and PML-N and all politicians across the spectrum, saying they were corrupt. "We want change and reforms. Through reforms we want to create political and social atmosphere conducive to sustained economic growth and social development of our country", the Maulana said. "This is the voice of the million march today in front of Parliament House that we need to remove the opportunities for corruption to occur...We need to create an atmosphere of safety and stability for our generations. "Through reforms, we need to restructure our political and electorial processes, for true and real democracy in our political and economic spheres, so that democracy can become a right of every single citizen of Pakistan", said the cleric. "This democracy is confined to only one per cent elite and we reject this democracy out of hand", said the cleric. As the cleric spoke, the authorities tried to ban cable TV for sometime to black out his speech, and cellphone networks were jammed across Pakistan. Police had to fire in the air and fire teargas shells to disperse angry protesters trying to remove barricades. "Everybody in Pakistan has only one right left in Pakistan, right to die or right to commit suicide", said the angry cleric. Tahirul Qadri had given ultimatum for the dissolution of National Assembly and provincial assemblies and the resignations of federal and provincial governments. The ultimatum expired at 11 am local time on Tuesday. A state of high alert has been sounded across Islamabad, as thousands of protesters stayed through the night on Islamabad's Constitution Avenue. Tahrul Qadri is staying inside a bomb-proof vehicle with heavy police security. Tahirul Qadri stayed in Canada for seven years, and returned to Pakistan only last month. Since then he has created a sort of tornado in Pakistani politics. In Karachi, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority jammed cellphone networks for nearly ten hours on Monday, and the service was restored after Interior Minister Rehman Malik had to intervene. Cellphone networks in Islamabad, Karachi and Rawalpindi were also jammed for sometime, local residents said. Meanwhile the sit-in of nearly one lakh protesters continues on Islamabad's Constitution Avenue.