Qadri wants nothing but qisas for Model Town martyrs

PAT chief terms Lahore rally a referendum in favour of ‘revolution’, gives 10-point agenda for poor to be implemented after ’revolution’, directs PAT workers to start membership drive across Pakistan

Vowing to settle for nothing less than “blood for blood”, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri said that only qisas (retribution) will settle the issue of Model Town incident martyrs after hanging the culprits and diyat (blood money) will not be accepted.

Addressing a mammoth rally at Minar-e-Pakistan Lahore Sunday, Qadri said that the people of Lahore had given their verdict in PAT’s favor.

“Lahore has rejected corruption,” he said, adding that Lahore is PAT’s fort and not the hub of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Qadri thanked PML-Quaid (PML-Q), Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) leaders for staging a “historic” 65-day-long sit-in with PAT in Islamabad.

Showing a newspaper clip during his speech, Qadri said that the government imported tear-gas shells to deal with PAT’s revolution march and sit-in. He also paid tribute to the martyrs of the Model Town incident and D-Chowk.

Training his guns on the Punjab government’s projects, Qadri said that the Metro Bus was constructed at a cost of Rs 30 billion. “The money could have been spent on providing clean drinking water to the people of Punjab,” he said.

Qadri said that contracts of cleaning the streets of Lahore, public buses and car-parking were being given companies of other Islamic countries because the rulers were being given kickbacks.

ONLY QUAID-ISM NOW:

“Pakistan has seen socialism, capitalism and several other ‘isms’ but now, only Quiad-ism will continue in Pakistan,” said Qadri as he vowed to take Pakistan on the path of progress as envisioned by its founding father Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The PAT chief said that Pakistan has excellent geo-strategic location as the emerging economies of China and India require Pakistan to improve their trade.

“China and India are large economies, Central Asian Republics (CAR) have technological strength while Iran is rich in natural resources. Pakistan can become a great economic zone for all these countries as these countries need Pakistan to improve their trade.”

Qadri said that Pakistan would have to eradicate terrorism and extremism from its soil in order to provide the international community with a stable environment for investment, adding that the security situation would be improved after the revolution.

“There are great tourists’ spots in Pakistan. Our northern areas are extremely attractive for nature lovers. We have sacred places of Sikhism and Buddhism. We must use them for the sake of improving our economy,” said Qadri.

Qadri said that Pakistan is the sixth largest country of the world in terms of population and said that there was a need to train the human resource to make Pakistan the greatest nation of the world.

“Pakistan will be made a part of Shinghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Great-20 (G20) and all the major global economic alliances if we are able to eradicate corruption.”

Qadri said he wanted to make Pakistan a country which the world would recognise.

“The entire world will say that there is no Asia without Pakistan,” he said, vowing to turn Pakistan into Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and South Korea of Asia.

AFTER THE ‘REVOLUTION’:

Sharing his ten-point agenda for the poor, Qadri said that people would be given all basic necessities of life at low cost in the system that would be implemented after the ‘revolution’.

“Households having less than Rs 15,000 monthly income will be given subsidy on basic necessities and will be exempted from taxes. Free land will be provided to the farmers for cultivation. Women will be given economic security by provision of jobs. Disparity among the salaries of government employees will be minimised. The poor will get free education and health treatment.”

Mentioning Pakistan’s large oil reserves, Qadri announced to provide electricity to every Pakistani village within 18 months of his rule, adding that the rulers had no vision for providing electricity to the nation in the future.

Vowing not to tolerate attempts to curb media freedom, Qadri said that Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority chairman is a retired police officer and thus the “rulers have killed independent journalism”.

Qadri advised PAT workers to start a membership drive across the country. He said that PAT wants a national government in the country before holding new elections but “if elections are imposed upon us, we shall not leave the ground open for others”.