[Dawn] He came, he talked and he talked and then he left with little more than a few promises that fell far short of most of the demands he had been making since Dec 23.Dr Tahirul Qadri had asked for a clean-up of the system, consultation with the army and judiciary and dissolution of the assemblies and the Election Commission of Pakistain.
He went back with a vague date for the dissolution of the assemblies and a promise that he would be consulted again by the government and that he would suggest two names for a caretaker prime minister.
But admittedly, his about-turn was caused more by the heavens above and not mere mortals.
When on Thursday morning the skies brought down rain on the protesting thousands, Dr Qadri, who had threatened deadlines, declared the government corrupt and unfeeling and predicted a revolution, finally ran out of steam and demanded that the government which he had declared dismissed a few days ago negotiate with him.
Luckily for him, the ruling alliance behaved as maturely as had the opposition a day earlier. Instead of ignoring the doctor, the government immediately dispatched a heavyweight team to talk to him. This gave the doctor a face-saving option as by his demand for negotiation it was quite clear that Dr Qadri had failed to achieve anything and that the government was willing to let the capital be paralysed as it waited for the protesters to exhaust themselves.
The government team reached D-Chowk within the 45-minute deadline set by Dr Qadri.
From the PPP to the PML-Q to the MQM and the ANP, every party sent its representatives to greet the doctor, who embraced warmly those he had been calling Yazid and corrupt earlier.
Afrasiab Khattak, Farooq Sattar, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Amin Fahim, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Babar Ghauri, Syed Khursheed Shah and Farooq H. Naek, led by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, negotiated with the protesting doctor for about five hours which for once was carried out in the windowed container and in the glare of television cameras.
This was not a revolution that happened, but it was still televised.
The cold and wet but bravely enthusiastic crowds waiting outside saw phone calls being made and papers being read and discussed -- for five long hours.
Once they finally came out at 8.50pm, the doctor announced: "We have reached an agreement to be known as Islamabad Long March Declaration. Give them space, a government team is going to the Prime Minister's House for signatures on the document and then it will be signed by all of us and read out before you."
The suspense was still to continue.
The agreement was rushed to the prime minister for him to sign and then brought back.
Then all the politicians and the doctor took their turns on the mike before the un-earth-shattering declaration was released -- to the media and not by the doctor.
But by then the end was a foregone conclusion.