- Petitioner says PAT did not keep promise to pay hired protestors Rs 3,500 per day for staying at sit-ins in capital
An additional district and sessions’ judge sought comments from the Faisal Town station house officer on a petition filed by a woman seeking a case against Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri. The woman sought to hold Qadri accountable for not paying her the money that she was promised in return for joining the Inquilab March to Islamabad in August, local media reported on Thursday.
Petitioner Hajan Momina filed the petition against PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, his son Hassan Mohiyuddin, daughter Fatima, and PAT president Raheel Abbasi.
She said that they had not kept their promise to pay the hired protestors Rs 3,500 per day for staying at the PAT sit-ins in the capital. Momina told the court that she had joined Minhajul Quran in 2007 and had been an active member of PAT.
She said PAT chief’s son Hassan and daughter Fatima had requested her on August 7, 2014, to gather women from her area to observe a martyrs’ day after 14 people were killed in Model Town. She said Shaista, Farzana, Saima, Syeda Bibi, Amna and Shahbana Bibi and several others had participated in the efforts besides her.
She said later, Mohiyuddin and Fatima met them at PAT’s secretariat in Model Town and asked them to participate in the sit-in in Islamabad, promising to pay them Rs 3,500 each for every day they were there. Momina said her friends had not wanted to go. She said Shaista was suffering from cancer and other women had family commitments.
The PAT leadership allegedly promised them that the march would end soon and pressed them into joining the march. Momina said that she had informed Qadri about their problems and he had assured her that PAT would pay Rs. 3,500 per day to each woman. She said the PAT chief had asked for their identity cards for surety. She said they had lived in Islamabad for more than 70 days. Momina told the court that PAT workers regularly checked women’s attendance at the sit-in.
She said when Qadri ended the sit-in 70 days later, they were left to their own devices.
When the women approached the leadership to pay what was promised, they were told that they would be paid in Lahore. The women are also missing their ID cards, which were never returned to them by the party.
Momina said that when the women went to PAT’s secretariat to collect their dues, the office bearers misbehaved with them and refused to pay them any money or return their ID cards. She alleged that some of the women were beaten and kicked out from the building.
Momina and the other women had approached the Faisal Town station house officer to register an FIR against PAT leaders but the SHO had not entertained them. She asked the court to direct the SHO to register an FIR against PAT’s chief and others for not paying them Rs. 3,500 and not returning their identity cards.
