Firebrand cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, who led a massive protest against the government in Islamabad, has been summoned by Canadian authorities to explain a violation of the oath he had taken while seeking asylum there, under which he had stated that he was not allowed to enter Pakistan.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police summoned Mr. Qadri, the head of the Tehrik Minhaj-ul-Quran, to appear on February 5, Express News channel reported on Friday.
The Canadian authorities said Mr. Qadri had violated an oath stating that he was not allowed to enter Pakistan.
Mr. Qadri, also known as Abdul Shakoor Qadri, had sought asylum in Canada in 2008, saying there were threats to his life after he met the Danish cartoonist responsible for blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
Through his lawyer Mendel Green, Mr. Qadri had claimed that he had been threatened by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba.
His asylum application was accepted on October 17, 2009 and he was issued a Canadian passport about six months ago, the channel reported.
Mr. Qadri has reportedly been receiving welfare funds from the Canadian government on health grounds, the report said.
The cleric ended his protest aimed at ousting the government after he signed an agreement with a government team on Thursday.
Under the deal struck between the two sides, Pakistan government agreed to appoint a caretaker Prime Minister by consensus ahead of the next general election.
Mr. Qadri had returned to Pakistan last month after living in Canada for seven years.
Several TV news channels reported on Friday that Mr. Qadri and members of his family had been booked to fly to Toronto via Dubai on January 27.
Published - January 18, 2013 06:15 pm IST
