Street power: PAT to stage sit-ins in 100 cities

Qadri also said “Why is India fighting the survival war for the Sharifs?”

LAHORE: The Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) unveiled on Thursday a plan to stage sit-ins in more than 100 cities in its quest for justice for party workers slain in Lahore’s Model Town area in 2014, as well as eliminating terrorism and arresting members of the corrupt elite named in the Panama Papers.

Addressing party leaders and journalists at his residence on Thursday, PAT chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri reiterated that his party would not settle for anything other than Qisas [blood money] for the victims of the Model Town incident.

“Is it not true that the PML-N has not allowed a ‘combing operation’ in Punjab?” he asked while accusing the ruling party of selective accountability.

He said had there been a Pakistan Peoples Party government in Punjab, a combing operation would have been started years ago. He also asked: “Why is India fighting the survival war for the Sharifs?”

Qadri said in line with his party’s policy, Nawaz Sharif has instructed half of his ministers to criticise the military while the other half are told to speak against the ministers criticising the army.

He called for an indiscriminate operation against terrorists and their facilitators in Punjab which, he claimed, is a “breeding ground” for extremists and terrorists.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2016.