- Demands Model Town incident report to be made public
- Qadri announces protests in multiple cities after Eid
LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri, while addressing a sit-in on Wednesday, thundered that such large crowd is a token to the fact that Model Town tragedy’s victims are not alone and the Sharifs will pay for their deeds. Qadri was speaking at a sit-in at The Mall in the memory of 2014 Model Town tragedy in which 14 people were killed.
Qadri praised his party workers who gathered at The Mall in solidarity with the victims of the Model Town incident. “We await justice and time is not far when justice will prevail,” he promised the PAT supporters.
Qadri also demanded of making the Justice Baqir Ali Najfi report on Model Town case public, asking what is Shehbaz Sharif afraid of if he is not responsible for the tragedy. He claimed that Shehbaz Sharif was declared responsible in the report that is why he hasn’t made it public even after three years, he said.
“The massive participation in this rally shows that the families of the 14 victims are not alone,” Qadri said. “We will not rest until Shehbaz Sharif is brought to justice,” he added. “Nawaz is nothing without Shehbaz’s hold over Punjab.”
Calling Nawaz Sharif a “thief in Panama case” and Shehbaz Sharif a “murderer in Model Town incident”, he said Pakistan will not prosper until the nation gets rid of these two.
He slammed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) spirit to introduce constitutional amendments while recalling how the ex-PM used to buy MPAs and MNAs in past, violating the sanctity of public votes and damaging democracy. He said, “Nawaz Sharif talks about the sanctity of votes while forgetting he had played a solid role in ousting the government of Benazir Bhutto in 1980s.”
Slamming Nawaz Sharif’s hopes of bringing a revolution, he said the former premier only remembered revolution after the July 28 verdict of the Supreme Court that declared him ineligible.
He had also announced protests in various cities, including Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, after Eidul Azha to contest the unavailability of justice regarding the Model Town incident.
He also expressed gratitude to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, Firdous Ashiq Awan, Fawad Chaudhry, and Sheikh Rashid to show their support for his cause in person.
Earlier, the PAT chief had arrived at The Mall sit-in staged by his party against the injustice with victims of Model Town tragedy. PAT workers, including women, arrived at The Mall after they were allowed by Punjab government to stage a protest and sit-in against the injustice after Model Town tragedy. The PAT workers also held a rally in Karachi, protesting against the government for their lack of action against murderers.
Earlier, while talking to reporters, Sheikh Rashid said the court was lenient with the Sharif family and Hudaibiya Paper Mills case will be tough for Nawaz Sharif. He said the future strategy will be made after his meeting with Tahirul Qadri.
The stage was prepared at Istanbul Chowk where seats had also been placed for the participants. The party had earlier assured that they will not violate the codes and stage a peaceful protest and traffic flow will remain unaffected. They promised to conclude the sit-in by 10 pm after PAT Chief Tahirul Qadri’s address.
The administration had offered PAT to transfer their protest at DC Road where they will be provided with a foolproof security.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lahore High Court (LHC) had barred the party from staging protests on Mall Road of the provincial capital in the light of Punjab government’s decision.
