Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chairman Dr Tahir ul Qadri on Saturday vowed to continue his struggle till justice is served to those responsible for the Model Town incident two years ago.
He was addressing party workers who attended the rallies that were held in view of PAT’s retribution and accountability movement’s first phase organized in different cities of the Pakistan. The first phase of the movement carry on from August 20th to 28th, for which major cities of the Punjab have been announced as the centers of each day’s address.
The PAT had announced stage a sit-in near 200 cities for its retribution movement. It managed to organize rallies in 105 cities across the country. The main sit-in was staged at Charing Cross in front of Punjab Assembly, Mall Road Lahore.
Dr Tahir ul Qadri’s address was telecasted through video-link to the attendees of the rallies.
Qadri said that he had started movement as a final round against the government and that he will not withdraw his stance until they justice was done.
“Model Town was not an incident of a simple murder; it was a shameful incident of state’s barbaric action against the innocent. After the passage of two years, we are still deprived of justice. Not a single accused of the incident was brought in to the court of justice,” he said, questioning that if government does not want to hide the truths then why is it reluctant to release the report produced by Justice Baqir Najfi?
Qadri said that they have right of retribution, which is in accordance to the Quran and Sunnat and that Pakistan’s constitution also gives them this right but the government closed all doors of justice for them. He said, “The government is planning to amend Criminal Procedure Court (CrPC) for avoiding the process of prosecution (private complain) and its agenda number 11 was discussed during a meeting presided by prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif.
“The blood of the martyrs of Model Town will not go to waste. We will not compromise to anything less than the Qisas;” Qadri vowed, adding that families of the victims of the Model Town massacre were offered blood money and other privileges, but they refused. They will not sell the blood of their loved ones for any amount of money”.
He once again blamed PMLN lead government for backing and promoting terrorism in the country. He said that Punjab has become the center of terrorism in country and Sharif brothers are facilitating terrorists. That Punjab has become the ‘father’ of terrorism in the country. He asked the army chief that if his institution has eliminated terrorism from the rest of the country, when would it be gouged out from Punjab?
Qadri said, “Sharifs are in power because of India, which makes efforts to save their government. If this is not true, then the Pakistan Army should reject my stance. India has been investing in PMLN for four years and what was the reason behind these efforts of India? It has never been seen in history that two countries are each others enemies, but their rulers are friends”.
He also alleged that Indian spies have been working in Sharifs’ factories. “Nawaz Sharif did not say anything on the arrest of Indian spymaster Kulbhoshan Yadev, which is meaningful,” he said, adding that Nawaz Sharif is a serious threat to national sovereignty and integrity.
Qadri said that whenever there is some threat to Nawaz Sharif’s government, bomb blasts and terrorist activities start happening in the country.
Beside Lahore, the rallies were held in different cities including Peshawar, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Jhang, Layyah, Mirpur Khas, Hyderabad and others, where local leaders also addressed the participants.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed of Awami Muslim League also attended and addressed the rally held at Faisalabad and appreciated the valour and righteousness of their cause.
The participants of the rally including women and children who raised anti-government slogans were carrying photographs of those killed in the Model Town incident two years ago.
To secure the participants of rallies from any untoward incident, Lahore police has taken strong measures. According to police sources, more than 3000 police personnel were deployed under the supervision of five Superintendents of Police (SPs) and 10 Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs).
The City Traffic Police (CTP) had set up 17 diversion points besides deploying additional traffic staff at The Mall to maintain smooth traffic flow during the protest. For this purpose, two SPs, nine DSPs, 39 traffic inspectors, 94 patrolling officers and 749 other traffic officials including 205 CTP office staffers were deployed at The Mall to facilitate people.