[But the 61-year-old preacher, who mixed eloquent rhetoric with
fist-waving ultimatums, did achieve some concessions, particularly for the
leader of an obscure party that does not hold a single seat in Parliament. And
even as his supporters began dispersing, it was clear that he had carved out an
unusually prominent role for a political outsider.]
By Declan Walsh And Salman Masood
 |
| Defusing a Crisis in Pakistan: The preacher Muhammad Tahi-ul Qadri charged onto Pakistan’s political scene, leading massive protests in Islamabad. After days of tense standoffs, he reached a symbolic deal with the government. |
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Muhammad Tahir-ul Qadri,
the preacher turned political activist who led thousands of his supporters to
occupy the heart of the Pakistani capital, ended his protest on Thursday night
after the government granted his party largely symbolic input into the
country’s electoral process.
Mr. Qadri failed to
achieve his headline aims, like the immediate dissolution of President Asif Ali
Zardari’s government and the installation of a temporary administration led by
technocrats — demands that, together with a striking military silence about his
movement, had stoked fears of army interference in politics.
Although he electrified
the news media and embarrassed the government by closing down the center of the
capital for four days, his promises of a “million-man march” did not
materialize, and the much smaller group that followed him was drenched by
bitter rains that lashed the capital on Thursday.
But the 61-year-old
preacher, who mixed eloquent rhetoric with fist-waving ultimatums, did achieve
some concessions, particularly for the leader of an obscure party that does not
hold a single seat in Parliament. And even as his supporters began dispersing,
it was clear that he had carved out an unusually prominent role for a political
outsider.
After five hours of
talks with representatives of the coalition government, held inside the
bulletproof enclosure he inhabited on Islamabad’s main avenue, Mr. Qadri read
out a five-point agreement about his party’s role in the elections.
It provided that Mr.
Qadri’s Awami Tehreek party would have limited say in the choice of a caretaker
prime minister during the election campaign period, and the law minister would
consult with Mr. Qadri on the composition of the election commission that
oversees voting.
Addressing his
supporters, Mr. Qadri claimed victory and described the three-day protest as a
“golden chapter in the history of Pakistan.”
But beyond platitudes
about weeding out corrupt politicians, the deal accorded Mr. Qadri few solid
rights, and some analysts saw it as a way of allowing him to withdraw quietly
from Islamabad.
“It is a capitulation in
a sense that it is an unconstitutional document,” said Salman Akram Raja, a
leading constitutional lawyer. “But in practice, it will have no effect. It is
just a face saver that allows Tahir-ul Qadri to leave Islamabad.”
Notably, the final point
of the deal behooves the government to avoid all “acts of victimization and
vendetta” against Mr. Qadri and his supporters — a pointed reminder of the
culture of revenge in Pakistani politics.
After the deal was
signed, Mr. Qadri hugged and held hands with Qamar Zaman Kaira, the information
minister, who had mocked the preacher at a news conference just a day earlier.
Mr. Kaira expressed regret for his sharp-tongued attacks and offered his
congratulations. “Today, it is your victory, it is my victory,” he said. “Your
peaceful protest is unparalleled.”
Perhaps the greatest
achievement of the deal, however, had not been written down: a major street
movement had been peacefully defused without loss of life. Warnings from
Interior Minister Rehman Malik that suicide bombers could target the rally
failed to materialize.
Afterward, Mr. Qadri’s
supporters, most of them drawn from small towns and cities across Punjab
Province, sang, beat drums and danced in the streets of Islamabad. “Our dream
came true tonight,” said Sabir Hussain, who said he came in a convoy of 250
vehicles from Chakwal. “We achieved what we came for here.”
Within a few hours, they
started to pack their luggage and return home, undoubtedly happy to avoid
another night’s sleep on damp sidewalks with limited water, food and sanitary
facilities. Some helped to collect trash and sweep the streets. “Thank God the
government finally met our sacrifices,” said Muhammad Shafique, a Kashmir
resident who said he had a headache all day.
Mr. Zardari’s government
was also battling on another front on Thursday, when its lawyers opposed a
Supreme Court order for the arrest of
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.
On Tuesday, Chief
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ordered the arrest of Mr.
Ashraf and 15 other current and former officials as part of a year-old
corruption prosecution relating to Mr. Ashraf’s tenure as minister for water
and power between 2008 and 2011. Government officials accused Chief Justice
Chaudhry of taking advantage of the chaotic situation to press his longstanding
rivalry with the government.
Officials from the
National Accountability Bureau, the government’s main antigraft body, told the
court on Thursday that the investigation into Mr. Ashraf’s case had been
“hurried,” and pleaded for more time to complete their work.
Chief Justice Chaudhry
remonstrated with the corruption body’s prosecutors, clearly angry that his
order had being defied. He accused the head of the agency, Fasih Bokhari, of
being timid with Mr. Ashraf, and accused the officials of behaving like defense
counsel for the government.
Such hearings have
become part of a wider battle between Chief Justice Chaudhry and Mr. Zardari
that has played out, largely through proxies, over the past year. In June the
court forced the previous prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, to resign in
relation to another corruption case. The case was postponed until Jan. 23.
Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud contributed reporting.
THESMARTPHONE FRONTIERS: INDIA, RUSSIA, BRAZIL
By Brian X.
Chen
Here in the United States, if you whip out a clamshell flip phone,
chances are you'll be called a caveman or Luddite. But elsewhere, there are
still some emerging countries where the old-school cellphone has yet to become
passé.
In India, Russia and Brazil, the older types of cellphone are still
the most popular, according to a study published Thursday
by Nielsen, the research firm. In India, 80 percent of phone users
own an old-style feature phone, and only 10 percent have a smartphone,
according to Nielsen's estimates. In Brazil and Russia, feature phones account
for roughly half the market.
Why the sluggish adoption for smartphones? In such countries,
smartphones can be even more expensive than they are here. In Russia, for
example, the full price of an iPhone 4 is $663 through Beeline, the Russian carrier.
China is one emerging country where the smartphone is dominant, with
66 percent of the market. That is largely thanks to the plethora of cheap
Android smartphones available there.
It's no wonder there are whispers of Apple's
making a cheaper iPhone. In the coming years, manufacturers will be
fiercely competing for the remaining nonsmartphone owners, who are mostly in
emerging countries. Recent data from
Qualcomm suggests that
emerging regions including Latin America, China and India are adding substantially
higher numbers of smartphone subscriptions than North America, Japan, Korea and
Europe.
@ The New York Times
@ The New York Times
