re: Tahirul Qadri’s long march
Brother you are right that people vote for these thugs. Well, these thugs also know the power of ignorant, illiterate, selfish and blind in third world democracy and they also know how to use animal like voters for their own benefit.
Anyhow, in most democracy there are built in protection from corrupt thugs entering Parliament and that is called illegibility for contesting election. This illegibility factor saves the country and people from thugs entering parliament.
It is not the voters who stop these thugs entering parliament as voters do not know anything about candidates personal life and clandestine immoral and corrupt financial activities. If voters know anything, they know that superficially. The duty to stop thugs entering parliament is job of government functionaries and law enforcing agencies with deep knowledge due to all state resources with them and it is they who have the responsible of exposing these thugs (their behind the scene immoral and corrupt activities) and stopping them from contesting election using ineligibility clause in constitution. Caretaker government and election commission should govern these state functionaries and law enforcement agencies to implement ineligibility clauses as constitution demands.
Fortunately Pakistan also has that built in factor in present constitution (in form of article 62 and 63), but unfortunately those protection gets compromised due to lack of implementation by care-taker governments and election commission. This lack of implementation is due to reason that care-taker governments are never impartial and Election commission are toothless in most cases.
If this lack of implementation due to partial care-taker government and toothless election commission (who are mostly partial and incompetent too) would continue than there would be no change in Pakistan however many times Pakistan goes through election.
TU-Qadri is not asking for any constitutional amendment, he is just demanding neutral and competent caretaker-government and powerful election commission with means to scrutinise all candidates who want to contest election and see that they fulfil all requirements of democracy.
Present time is the best time for such demand, as caretaker government is to get installed and election commission position is still fluid. People who would install caretaker government are present government and they (present government) also have power to make election commission with means who are also effective, efficient, powerful and meaningful.
If TU-Q has done something in this regard few months ago (or earlier) by long-march or whatever protest so to force present government into installing neutral care-taker government and effective election commission than that would have been meaningless (time was too early) as that would not have been too early for such demands (government would have said that you are asking too early for things that government would have to decide many months later).
On the other hand, if TU-Q had done something once caretaker government is installed than it would have been too late as then one would be asking care-taker government to change care-taker government, but they have no authority to change care-taker government.
So… what TU-Q is doing is quite appropriate and at right time.