PAT chief says he will announce his next strategy soon if demand not met.
Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri has warned Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah to resign by December 31 over their role in the Model Town tragedy, or be ready for a war.
“Mian Shehbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah and other officials must immediately tender their resignations otherwise we will wage a war against the murderers [of the Model Town victims] and win it at any cost,” said Qadri while addressing a news conference in his usual aggressive tone, here on Tuesday.
He was speaking days after an inquiry report by Justice Baqar Najafi of the Lahore High Court was unveiled, pointing to the involvement, albeit not in clear terms, of the Punjab government high-ups in the killing of 14 PAT workers during police action in Lahore’s Model Town area on June 17, 2014.
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Qadri told reporters that the responsibility of the killing lay on the shoulders of Shehbaz, Sanaullah and other officials of the provincial government, warning them that they should immediately resign and present themselves to authorities or “I will announce the next strategy soon”.
He said the decision to initiate the Model Town operation was taken at a meeting held on June 16, 2014 in which the home secretary and Law Minister Sanaullah took part, and Principal Secretary Dr Tauqeer Shah represented the chief minister.
He asked, “How can Shehbaz be irrelevant to this heinous decision and its implementation? If Shehbaz had ordered police to step back at 9pm, why did Rana Sanaullah and the home secretary not obey his orders? Who had refused to obey him? Was it Punjab IG or DIG Rana Abdul Jabbar? If these officers refused to obey, why no action was taken against them? Why were they not dismissed and sent to jails?”
The PAT chief alleged that Shehbaz and former PM Nawaz Sharif were giving protection to the officers responsible for the killings.
“All political parties want justice for the victims of the Model Town incident and have assured us of their support,” he said.
He also claimed support of civil society and the traders community. “We are taking time for our movement so that we are able to chalk out a comprehensive plan for our cause,” he said. “Now we will not miss our target.”
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Calling former PM Sharif’s statement against the judiciary as ‘insurgency against judiciary’, Qadri said that “as the decision was not compatible with the telephone calls or dictations, he has begun hatching a conspiracy against the honourable judiciary”.
He asked the institutions why they had been silent over his ‘utter nonsense’ and provocation against the judiciary.
Before the press conference, former chief minister Gilgit-Balistan Syed Mehdi Shah, President JUI-Noorani Qari Zawar Bahader, Head of Halqa Safia Pakistan Pir Ahmad Yar Saifi and President JUI-Niazi Pir Masoom Naqvi met with the PAT chief, along with Ajmal Wazir, the senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid. They assured the PAT of their cooperation in seeking justice for the Model Town victims.
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