On a cold night in December last year, there appeared a Dark Knight in shining armor at the foot of Minar-e-Pakistan, in the historical city of Lahore.
The date of his arrival had been well orchestrated and millions of rupees were spent to advertise the event through the electronic and print media, to ensure that there was a full house.
As such, the event witnessed one of the largest Julsas in the history of Pakistan, as thousands of citizens from all walks of life gathered to listen to the mysterious Dark Knight from the cold mountains of Canada.    
And true to the build up given to him by his spin masters, on Sunday 23rd December, the charismatic, finger waving, arms flailing Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri, a little known religious scholar-cum-politician and Chief of Tehreek-e-Minhaj-ul-Quran, in Pakistan, put up an impressive, Academy Award winning performance.
What had been refreshing about this huge jalsa was, that there were no multi-colored party flags, only a sea of the green and white flags of Pakistan. The had been described as Pakistan’s version of Egypt’s Tahrir Square demonstrations and it seemed that the Arab Spring Uprising had finally come to the shores of the Pak and the Pure.
After his julsa, followed by the Long March, a Dharna in front of the parliament and signing of the Islamabad Long March Declaration, Dr. TQ continued to be in the limelight and a hot topic for discussions in the TV  Talk shows.
And the reason for the immediate success of the Qadri Phenomena was that, for the last six decades this Titanic, with 180 million passengers on board, has been traveling down the River Of No Return, without a paddle or a rudder and heading for the Niagara Falls and the rocks below.
Each government, both civil and military, have been promising the gullible and naïve citizens of Pakistan the elusive Roti – Kapra – Makan and a better quality of life for sixty five years, but have been betrayed time and time again.
Now they have lost their faith and trust in their leaders, their parliamentarians and the present corrupt system of governance. So when the Dark Knight entered the political arena, promising change and that the corrupt would be swept away into the sea, they welcomed him with open arms, as he, like Imran Khan, our White Knight in shining armor,  offered the 180 million underprivileged and deprived citizens a ray of hope. 
But then Dr TQ made a fatal mistake, he filed a Constitutional Petition in the SCP, challenging the legal status of the five member ECP committee, headed by the respectable and upright Justice (r) Fakruddin G Ebrahim and declared that the appointment of its members as unconstitutional and illegal.
And as expected, the petition raised a furor in our political and legal arena and Dr. TQ was immediately accused of trying to derail and delay the elections. In his appearance in front of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Dr. TQ had decided to present the petition himself.
He attempted to give his arm flaying, finger waving Hollywood performance in front of the Honorable Judges, but was immediately cut down to size and prevented from doing so by the three-member bench of the apex court and was ordered to answer only to the questions that he was being asked. 
Restricting Dr TQ to matters relating to his dual nationality status and after hearing the arguments for two days, the Supreme Court ruled that Dr Tahirul Qadri had failed to establish that his fundamental right had been infringed upon, adding that the petitioner’s intentions appeared to be mala fide.
The Honourable Court further stated that a foreign citizen would not be allowed to challenge constitutional institutions and wind up the political set-up of the country and dismissed the petition, stating that, ‘You are showing allegiance not only to Queen Elizabeth but also her successors. Your allegiance is divided and you are more concerned about your loyalty to Canada’.
During his Dharna, the Doctor was all praises for the Supreme Court of Pakistan, with shouts of SC Zindabad, but now that he has been treated as a part-time Pakistani, his credibility challenged and his petition dismissed, he is accusing the Hon. Court of being biased. 
The dismissal of the Doctor’s petition has been welcomed by many, but at the same time, it has raised many questions and given fuel to a raging controversy in the political and legal circles.
On hearing the verdict, Dr TQ, lost his cool and as expected, protested furiously and vehemently. He termed it as a ‘political verdict’, unconstitutional and that it has violated his constitutional, violating his fundamental rights as a Pakistani citizen, as he was not given a chance to discuss even a single line of his petition during the hearing.
The good Doctor pointed out that if the Constitution allows a dual nationality holder to vote in the elections, then on what grounds had the Hon. Court had refused to hear his petition and given him a fair hearing? Why did the court concentrate just on issues relating to his Canadian citizenship and his dual nationally, etc?
The verdict has also raised the eligibility and the civil rights of thousands of Pakistanis living in every corner of the world, including professionals, having dual nationalities and remit millions of valuable dollars to Pakistan.
They also officially represent Pakistan in various political and economic forums and organizations the world over. Therefore, to refer dual nationality holders as ‘Foreigners’ and to deny them their civil rights or to file a petition in the Courts of Pakistan does not go down well.
It would have been better if the Honorable Court had given Dr. TQ an opportunity to present his case and then given judgment. But now, a Pandora’s Box has been opened, which could embarrass the credibility of the Honorable Court in days to come.
As for the Dr TQ’s enigma, it is still not clear what is his real agenda is and what his next move will be, but he has definitely put our government, leaders and political parties on notice, that the Arab Spring is simmering under the surface and if they do not get their act together, then it could suddenly spill over and engulf them all.
(email: trust@helplinetrust.org).