LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Dr Tahirul Qadri claimed on Thursday that he can invite both the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the same table whenever he wants.
Addressing to the lawyers’ convention in Punjab’s provincial capital, he stated that protests cannot be staged again and again. He warned that the sit-in arranged this time will be their last.
He declared the Model Town incident report of Justice Baqir Najfi as nature’s revenge. “All parties in opposition assured to give their support,” he said.
He reaffirmed the stance of his party that both Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah are responsible for killing innocent people in the Model Town massacre.
All Pakistan Lawyers Convention being chaired by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri to highlight #ModelTown massacre in the light of Justice Baqir Najafi report. #LawyersConventionOnMT pic.twitter.com/uVONqMgqyh
— Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri (@TahirulQadri) December 14, 2017
Taunting the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), he said that they have remained part of the greater plan and now claim to suffer from conspiracies against them.
Earlier on Dec 7, former president Asif Ali Zardari backed PAT’s demand for resignation of Shehbaz Sharif, and said that there is no possibility of a third force coming into power because the Nawaz Sharif government left the country with $52 billion debt and only a political government can resolve the lingering crisis.
The PPP co-chairman visited the PAT head office to discuss the political situation against the backdrop of the Justice Baqar Najafi commission report about the 2014 Model Town clash between police and protesters that claimed several lives.
Talking to media persons after their meeting, PAT chief Dr Qadri and Zardari said they had agreed to start a movement against the PML-N government in Punjab if the chief minister did not step down.
Accusing Shehbaz of behaving like a Mughal emperor, Zardari said, “He will have to tender his resignation, otherwise I will stand with Dr Sahab on the container.”
“Enough is enough – we are with Dr Sahab as N-League is not serving democracy but acting against democratic norms,” Zardari said. “We will support PAT on all fronts for the survival of the Constitution as we cannot invite the third force to come,” he added.
Paying tribute to the Model Town victims, he said these martyrs and injured had not received justice as yet. “We will not let the sacrifices of Model Town go in vain,” he said.