Tahir-ul-Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) will participate in the protest organized by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Islamabad after the main leaders of the two parties reached a agreement on Monday.
According to reports, PTI chairman Imran Khan telephoned Tahirul Qadri and requested him to extend his party’s support for the Islamabad sit-in.
Media reports say that Qadri was earlier displeased with Khan and had informed Rawalpindi politician Sheikh Rasheed about his reservations. The PAT chief reportedly wanted to be approached himself by Imran Khan, rather than the other way around.
According to reports, Rashid facilitated the rapprochement between the two parties, after which the PAT leader eventually agreed to extend support to the PTI for the latter’s lockdown in Islamabad.
PTI has given a call for a massive protest in Islamabad, in a showdown aimed at forcing PM Nawaz to step down and present himself for accountability in the wake of Panama Papers disclosures.
PAT and PTI had also joined hands in the past to stage a similar protest in Islamabad some two years ago. The protest, which continued for over four months, paralysed the federal capital and was marred by attacks on the Parliament House and offices of the state TV among other incidents.
The PAT chief, however, had called off the 2014 sit-in amid reports of a backdoor settlement with the government.
The PTI, however, had stood its ground despite fading public support and eventually ended its sit-in after 126 days in the wake of a gruesome attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School on December 16, 2014.