Declaration: PTI leader says Qadri protest bore little fruit

Shafqat Mehmood says the declaration should not be termed a success as it did not bring any real change.

LAHORE:

A senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader said on Friday that though the dedication of the long march participants’ was unquestionable the declaration signed by Dr Tahirul Qadri on Thursday fell well short of the targets set by the Minhajul Quran International (MQI) chief.

At the same time, PTI’s central information secretary Shafqat Mehmood saluted MQI supporters for exercising patience and discipline during the three-day protest. However, he said, the outcome of the protest was far from the targets initially set by Dr Qadri.

The PTI information secretary stated that since the declaration had brought no real change for the people, it was “inaccurate” to term it a success.  “The long march was not entirely what the nation had hoped for,” he said.

But Mehmood added that his party had “due respect for Dr Qadri” and supported most of his party’s public stances on a host of issues.

He, however, did not deny the impact of the protest. “It was positive that the long march ended peacefully which conveyed a positive image of Pakistan to the world,” adding that dialogues held high importance in Pakistan and issues like these could be brought to the table in the future as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2013.