[DAWN] A year after leading major street protests aimed at toppling the Pak government, populist preacher Tahirul Qadri...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him...
says he has turned back to religion, but remains prepared to re-launch his "revolution" when the time is right.
Weeks of sit-in protests by supporters of Qadri and opposition politician Imran Khan
... aka
Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight...
reached a climax in early September 2014 as protesters clashed with police and stormed the state broadcaster.
For a few hours it looked as if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
's government might fall, but the crisis abated and eventually the protesters went home.
Qadri, a mercurial figure who also brought Islamabad to a standstill with mass protests in early 2013, wanted Sharif to resign and demanded sweeping changes to the country's political and welfare system.
The protests fizzled out and Qadri left Pakistain for medical treatment.
Earlier this year he quietly returned, this time to lead not rumbustious street protests but a 10-day prayer vigil during the month of Ramazan.