Pir Sialvi to hold public gathering in Lahore on Jan 20

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—–Ashraf Asif Jalali of TLYR will also join Pir Sialvi at Data Darbar

LAHORE: Spiritual leader and custodian of the Sial Sharif shrine Hameedud Din Sialvi is all set to address a large public gathering of his workers and disciples in Lahore on Saturday (Jan 20) at the Data Sahib shrine in order to build pressure on the government for the resignation of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan.

It would be the third public gathering of Pir Sialvi during the last two months, as he had earlier addressed two mammoth gatherings of his disciples in Faisalabad and Gujranwala in December after launching a movement against Rana Sana. The spiritual leader and a veteran Muslim League member had said that the law minister had given statements in the favour of the Ahmadi community and he had no right to occupy his office.

Revealing his plan for the Lahore gathering, Sahibzada Ghulam Nizamud Din Sailvi, nephew of Pir Sialvi and a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member of the provincial assembly (MPA) from PP-37 Sargodha, told Pakistan Today that it would be a one-day show in Lahore at the shrine of Data Sahib per initial plans, but Pir Sialvi had the authority to make an announcement if he wanted to convert the public gathering into a sit-in.

“I don’t think that more public gatherings would be required after Saturday’s show of power in Lahore,” Sialvi said, who was quite confident that their Lahore rally would be bear fruit.

He further added that they have not contacted Dr Tahirul Qadri so far to urge him to join the protest movement, but Dr Ashraf Asif Jalali of Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) was on board with Pir Sialvi and he would also join us at Data Darbar. Talking about his resignation from the Punjab Assembly in December 2017, along with two other MPAs, he said that his resignation was not accepted yet by the speaker as he had not yet received any formal intimation from the speaker’s office to meet him for the verification of his resignation.

It is worth mentioning here that clause 35 (b) of the Rules of Procedure of the Punjab Assembly authorised the speaker to verify on his own, or through assembly secretariat, that the resignation was voluntary and genuine if it was sent through any other mean other than personal appearance. The resignation of Sialvi was sent by his representative as he avoided to appear personally.

It may be mentioned here that Pir Sialvi, who had also served as a senator of Muslim League between 1988 and 1993 and whose father was also a close confidant of Quaid-e-Azam, had a great influence over a dozen parliamentarians hailing from PML-N, who were also loyal to the spiritual leader. Being associated with Pir Sialvi was crucial to the parliamentarians because thousands of their voters from Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Chiniot and Jhang sought spiritual guidance from the Sargodha-based spiritual leader and cast their votes only after getting a nod from him.