Consultation planned: Opposition meeting to be held on July 31, says Qadri

PAT chief says future strategy on Panama Leaks to be announced after meeting

LAHORE: Opposition parties will announce their future line of action on the Panama Papers issue on July 31, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri said on Tuesday. He was addressing a press conference.

“A consultative meeting of opposition parties will be held at the PAT Secretariat on July 31. The opposition will prepare and announce its next line of action,” Qadri said.

He said that Syed Khursheed Shah, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Sirajul Haq, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Raja Nasir Abbas had been contacted to participate in the consultative meeting. He said this meeting will also review progress on the Model Town riot case.

He said that a three-member PAT delegation would attend the opposition meeting to be held in Islamabad on the July 19. Khurram Nawaz Gandapur will lead the delegation.

Qadri said that the government would not complete its tenure. He said parties that stood with the government earlier no longer supported it. “Sharif brothers are a threat to the very existence of the country and to national security. This is evident from their strong relationship with the Indian prime minister,” he said.

Qadri said that the PM had stayed in the UK for over 45 days. “During that time, he did not perform any official duty. His heart

surgery was performed at a clinic known for hair transplants,” he said.

The PAT chief said his party would not change its stance on the Model Town incident.

“We will never compromise on the blood of innocent people shot dead by police,” he said.

Qadri also criticised Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for sending people to India for medical treatment on government expense.

“The government should build in Pakistan institutes that are able to treat such patients,” he said.

The PAT chief said that rumours of a ‘London plan’ were baseless. “I will soon be travelling to Scotland. The visit was planned quite some time ago. I am not going to London at all,” he said. He said that he foresaw the end of the government.

The PAT chief paid tribute to Abdul Sattar Edhi and said that the deceased was an icon of social service.

Dr Hassan Mohiuydin Qadri, Dr Hussain Mohiuydin Qadri, Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, GM Malik, Matloob Warraich,

Noorullah Sadique, Sajid Bhatti and Jawad Hamid were also present at the press conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2016.