PAT’s Qadri, allies to launch anti-govt movement from Jan 17

• PAT chief says deadline for resignations of Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah is over, will now send the entire PML-N govt packing
• Announces protest movement from Jan 17, says allies, including PTI, PPP and PML-Q will consider joint strategy on Jan 11

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri has announced to launch a nationwide protest movement for resignations of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah from January 17.

Addressing a meeting of All Parties Conference’s (APC)  steering committee here on Monday, the PAT chief said that an Action Committee will overlook the protest which will meet in its first session on January 11. The meeting will decide the strategy of the protest.

Qadri said that they will not demand the resignations anymore but would take them now. “The deadline ended on January 7,” he added.

“Protest will not stop until the entire Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) [government] is finished,” Dr Qadri said, adding that that now the whole PML-N will fall.

The PAT chief added that the matter has gone beyond resignations. “Now the government of PML-N will be finished,” he said, adding there was no chance for the ruling party to remain in power.

“We have all options open as we seek an end to their oppression,” said Qadri.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PAT-led APC, on December 30, 2017, had given a deadline to Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah to tender their resignations, which expired on Sunday, for their involvement in Model Town carnage which claimed 14 lives.

The steering committee was formed in the recently held Multi-Parties Conference (MPC) convened by the PAT of Dr Tahirul Qadri.

The 18-member steering committee includes PAT Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Sardar Latif Khosa of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Jahangir Tareen, Shafqat Mahmood and Aleem Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Senator Kamil Ali Agha and Chaudhry Zaheerud Din of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Sheikh Rasheed of Awami Muslim League (AML), Nasir Sherazi of Majlis-e-Wahdat ul Muslimeen, Raza Haroon of Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), Sardar Ateeq Ahmed Khan of Muslim Conference, Sahibzada Hamid Raza of Sunni Ittehad Council, Liaqat Baloch of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Syed Ihsan Shah of Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A), Allama Safdar Ali Shah of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and Jamshed Dasti of Awami Raj Party.

Moreover, Khurram Nawaz Gandapur of PAT, Manzoor Wattoo of PPP and Jahangir Tareen of PTI work as the coordinators of the steering committee.

In the MPC that was attended by 40 political and religious parties on December 30, a 10-point unanimous resolution was also passed in which the chief justice of Pakistan was also requested to take a suo motu notice of the tragic Model Town incident of 2014 in which 14 people were killed while over a 100 got injured.

The MPC also held Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Rana Sana and some powerful bureaucrats of the Punjab government responsible for the Model Town incident and termed their actions as an extension of state terrorism. The Multi-Parties Conference also demanded that those responsible for the change in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat affidavit must also be booked under the law as it was a deliberate attempt.

10-point statement by APC

The APC had put forward a 10-point statement.

1) All Parties Conference condemns the Model Town incident and the amendment in the Finality of Prophethood declaration.

2) Model Town incident was the worst of state terrorism, in which the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, including Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah were involved along with bureaucrats, police officers and Punjab government officials. They ordered firing on 100 people on the pretext of an anti-encroachment operation, martyring 14.

3) The amendment in the Finality of the Prophethood is an attack on the faith of hundreds of thousands of Muslims and on the Constitution. Nawaz Sharif and PLM-N as a party were involved in this state terrorism. The mastermind behind amendment in the Finality of Prophethood declaration has neither been brought to the fore nor has the culprit been punished. PML-N has lost the right to hold power after attacking the faith. This conflict will continue till people involved in the crime are taken to task. APC demands the culprits be dealt with an iron fist.

4) APC announced that people martyred and injured on June 17, 2014, in Model Town were not only workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek but were also citizens of Pakistan. It is the joint responsibility of all the parties in the APC to fight for justice for the people who were fired at. APC owns the efforts that will be undertaken for the purpose. Justice in the Model Town incident will prove to be a milestone for the rule of law.

5) The bereaved families of Model Town incident have got only the report of Justice Baqir Najafi after waiting for justice for three and a half years. This proves that transparent investigation, trial, and provision of justice would not be possible in the case till Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif will remain in power. Although 125 police officials were summoned, not a single one was arrested. Not only this, bureaucrats and government officials involved in the murder have not even been summoned. This shows that the incumbent government has failed to deliver justice.

6) Since the report of Baqir Najafi Commission has declared Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah responsible for planning the Model Town incident, the APC demands that they and others involved in the crime step down from their positions before January 7, 2018. APC has mutually extended the deadline of December 31, 2017, to January 7, 2018. If resignations are not given by January 7, the steering committee will organise a meeting on January 8 and decide the next course of action for protest.

7) APC demands that all provincial assemblies and Senate get resolutions approved regarding the resignation demands of Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.

8) Two FIRs of the Model Town incident are filed and the Punjab government constituted two joint investigation teams (JIT) on the issue. These JITs could not record the statements from families of the victims, killed and injured, in the incident. This means that the martyrdom has not been recorded in any of the two JITs. The law required statements from the complainant and victims for the sake of fair trial. Therefore, the APC demands the chief justice of Pakistan to form a JIT taking suo motu notice on the incident which was against humanity, state, and the public. The APC also demands that a judge of the Supreme Court monitors the JIT.

9) APC demands that no NRO be given — under internal or external pressure — to the Sharif family, which has looted the national wealth. The public will not accept it if relief of any sort is given to the Sharif family.

10) APC has constituted a committee to decide the next course of action on the deadline, which will be called the Steering Committee of APC. The committee will have the authority to take action in case of an emergency. The Steering Committee will have the following members: Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Awami Muslim League, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, Pak Sarzameen Party, Muslim Conference. Pakistan Awami Tehreek Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur will be the coordinator of the committee and Sardar Mohammad Lateef Khosa will be the legal adviser of the Steering Committee.

It is worth mentioning here that religious scholar and custodian of Sial Sharif shrine Pir Hameedud Din Sialvi had also threatened to lead a long march from Data Darbar in Lahore on January 9 if Rana Sana did not resign from his post over his ‘controversial’ remarks about the Ahmedi community in Pakistan.