Pakistani politics (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

A curious article from The Economist: 'The mystery of Tahir ul Qadri'; which opens:

WHO and what is Tahir ul Qadri? And, more importantly, who is behind him? Those are the questions now racing through political Pakistan, with no firm answers. The religious cleric, previously a minor figure politically, has been living in Canada since 2006, where he acquired Canadian citizenship. Since he arrived back in Pakistan last month, however, Mr Qadri has caused a political sensation with his demands that Pakistan's democratic system be reformed. He wants to throw the “criminals” out of Pakistani politics, the implication being that doing so would leave very few of today’s politicians still in business.

Mr Qadri seems to have unlimited funds available to him and a huge and growing following. A rally held on December 23rd in Lahore, the provincial capital of the politically all-important Punjab province, attracted hundreds of thousands of people. (Mr Qadri claimed it was a crowd of two million.) Now he is to march on the capital, Islamabad, aiming to take four million people to that small and usually serene city on January 14th.

Link:http://www.economist.com/blogs/banya...stani-politics

Having heard him speak, to a UK conference of the faithful, he is a good speaker and can drift into very direct criticism of Saudi Arabia / Wahhabism.

Added

A different viewpoint in a BBC report, indicated by the headline 'Tahirul Qadri - Pakistan's latest political 'drone'?':http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20998010