PAT announces anti-government countrywide campaign from Aug 6

Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) led by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri announced to launch an anti-government protest against Model Town massacre and the corruption of the incumbent government from August 6. A few-hour long sit-in would be staged in the campaign, he said.

“This is the beginning of a movement. It will reach its climax with the thorough obliteration of the rulers,” the PAT chairman Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said while talking to the media here on Sunday. Also, he said that he has support of 25 political parties. He said this decision has been taken after the consultative conference with the opposition parties. He said all the parties present endorsed this decision. The consultative conference was hosted by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri and Pakistan Awami Tehreek at their Model Town secretariat. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said in the multi-party moot that the Qisas will not be forgiven and forgotten under any circumstance. The PAT would get ‘an eye for an eye’ justice for its activists killed in the Model Town incident more than two years ago.

Answering a question regarding progress in the Model Town case, the PAT chief asserted it does not take even a week to dispense justice, adding the justice in the June 17, 2014, massacre will open up the shuttered-down vistas of justice.

Referring to the Sharif Brothers, Dr Qadri was of the view that the country’s solidarity will be risked if these rulers continue to pace up and down the corridors of power, adding, “Each section of society is on strike in Pakistan under the present dispensation.” No one’s life and property is secure in Pakistan, he added.

At the conclusion of the conference, an eight-point joint declaration was also approved. The declaration included seeking Qisas in the Model Town killing incident and also included seeking the prosecution of the prime minister and the inclusion of the names of his family members in the Panama Leaks. Its demand included an operation by the Pakistan army in Punjab against terrorists and extremists and their supporters and financiers. He also condemned the barbaric acts of India in Kashmir.

Pakistan Peoples’ Party leaders Sardar Latif Khosa, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Mian Mehmood Rashid and Mian Aslam Iqbal, Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rashid, Kamil ali Agha, Bashir Cheema, Raja Basharat, Ch Zaheeruddin from PML-Q, Sahibzada Hamid from the Pakistan Sunni Ittehad Council, Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan were represented by Sahibzada Abul Khair Zubair, MQM Munir Ahmed, Qari Iftikhar Ali Abbas, Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen Nasir Sherazi, Asad Abbas Naqvi, Syed Ahmed Iqbal Rizvi, Jamaat-e-Islami Hafiz Sajid Anwer, Maulana Muhammad Ghias, J. Salik, Riaz Hayat, JUI- Niazi Pir Syed Masoom Hussain Naqvi, Tehreek Hazara Sultan Al-Arfeen Mujaddidi, Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party Gulzar Muhammad Somroo, PSP Raza Haroon, and Usman Rathoor from APML attended the conference.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that in the first phase the protest movement will start on August 6 from Karachi, Lahore, Chiniot, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Ghotki, Islamabad and on August 16 from Karachi, Lahore, DG Khan, Sialkot, Larkana, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and on August 20 Hyderabad, Okara, Bahawalpur, Jhelum, Gujranwala, TT Singh, Chiniot and on August 27 Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Bhakkar, Faisalabad, Gujrat and protest rallies and sit-ins will be held in all the cities on the given dates. He said the second and the third phases of the protest movement will be announced after consultation with the joint action committee. He thanked all the political parties for participating in the consultative conference.

Text of Communique adopted at National Consultative Meeting

All participants of the National Consultative Meeting held under the banner of PAT on July 31 issued the following communique with complete consensus:

It was decided in the consultative meeting that a Joint Action Committee is established for investigation into corruption, elimination of injustice and terrorism and for protection of fundamental rights of the people, which will work out the next line of action with consensus and suggest measures for collective struggle.

1. All political parties have extended their support for Qisas and justice in case of the Model Town tragedy. They have demanded that the report of the judicial commission should be published and all nominated accused should be meted out punishment under the law after proper investigation. The participants supported the PAT protest campaign starting from August 6.
2. The participants of the conference have expressed their concern on corruption and dysfunctionality of the institutions in the country and demanded for accountability of the PM and his family in the light of the ToRs of the joint Opposition.
3. The meeting strongly condemned the Indian atrocities in the held Kashmir and expressed its extreme anger over the hypocritical conduct of the government on the violations of human rights in the occupied Kashmir. It demanded that the government should shun its policy of silence with regard to Kashmir, play its role internationally to get the state terrorism stopped in the valley and educate international opinion with regard to holding of the plebiscite as per resolutions of the United Nations.
4. The participants strongly condemned the ongoing wave of target killing on religious, political, sectarian, racial and linguistic bases.
5. The consultative meeting paid rich tributes to the officers and jawans of Pakistan Army on successfully undertaking Operation Zarb-e-Azb. It paid homage to the sacrifices of the officers and jawans of the Pakistan military and thousands of citizens who lost their lives in incidents of terrorism. National Action Plan should be implemented fully and without any discrimination in order to make Operation Zarb-e-Azb successful. Operation clean-up be started in Punjab.
6. All the participants condemned the government’s failure in checking the increase in price hike, load-shedding and unemployment. They expressed their grave concern on deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab in particular.
7. The meeting demanded that the reservations of the smaller provinces should be addressed in connection with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
8. Economic massacre of the farmers should be stopped forthwith because they are the life-line of the economy.