Govt hedges its bets as Qadri seeks Rs10b in damages

Punjab CM orders release of detained PAT workers; Rashid warns that Qadri will have to face the law.

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE:

The government doled out carrots and sticks in equal measure on Tuesday, a day after Dr Tahirul Qadri returned to Pakistan, with the authorities in Punjab ordering the release of all detained Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers while the information minister hinted at the possibility of arresting the PAT chief.

For his part, Tahirul Qadri said he would claim Rs10 billion in damages from the federal government and Emirates for flying him to Lahore instead of Islamabad. Emirates flight EK-612 – with Qadri and his aides on board – was scheduled to land at Islamabad’s Benazir International Airport but was diverted by the government to Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport on Monday.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the release of dozens of PAT activists who were detained under the Maintenance of Public Order ahead of their leader’s homecoming. However, those facing criminal charges would have to face courts, he said.



He directed the Lahore police chief to ensure effective security at the Minhajul Quran Secretariat in consultation with PAT officials and also address Qadri’s apprehensions. The chief minister issued the orders after Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar passed on Qadri’s demands.

But even as the Punjab government offered an olive branch to the PAT, the federal information minister, Senator Pervaiz Rashid, let it be known that there was a possibility of levelling criminal cases against the PAT chief.

“Like former dictator Pervez Musharraf, Dr Qadri has come to Pakistan of his own free will, but his departure abroad will be decided according to the law, which will take its course,” he told journalists during his visit to the DHQ Hospital, Rawalpindi, where he enquired after the health of the policemen injured in Monday’s melee outside the Islamabad airport.

He claimed that the PAT workers attacked the policemen at Dr Qadri’s behest which is a “new form of terrorism, imported by Qadri from abroad”. “The policemen were there to protect the passengers, including the PAT chief, but his goons broke their bones,” he added.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the government was considering several options to deal with Qadri. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is likely to be asked to investigate the financial matters of the PAT, sources said.

The agency would scan through the documents in pursuit of possible irregularities, sources of funds, payment of taxes, spending on advertisements and other related issues. “Qadri had spent billions of rupees on a media campaign in 2013 ahead of his first homecoming,” a government official said.

He added that the FIA would investigate where did he receive the money from, he added. “Provocative speeches of Qadri will also be used as evidence against him for instigating a rebellion and violence in the country,” a source said.

In an angry retort, Qadri blamed the government for beating up his supporters and ‘hijacking the flight’ he was travelling in. “Around 275 passengers on board the plane. I’ve asked my activists to take over Islamabad but I exercised restraint,” he told a news conference at the Central Secretariat of Minhajul Quran International.

Refuting the allegation that his colleagues had forced other passengers not to get off the plane in Lahore, Qadri pointed out that a number of people, including PML-N central leader Raja Zafarul Haq, had disembarked.

Qadri claimed that 1,400 unarmed PAT activists were detained in the twin cities on terrorism charges. The police opened fire and lobbed teargas canisters at PAT workers while they were offering prayers in Islamabad.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) sent 53 PAT workers on a 10-day physical remand. A heavy contingent of police from Airport police station presented the PAT before ATC-2 and sought physical remand.

Judge Rana Masood Akhter ordered the police to present them on July 4 for further proceedings. Police rounded up hundreds of PAT workers on charges of torturing police on Monday.

They were arrested for torturing policemen outside the airport on Monday. As many as 1,300 PAT men, including Qadri, have been booked on charges of attacking the police, snatching their arms and damaging public property.

However, Qadri strongly denied his workers were involved in violence and vandalism. Instead he alleged that the Islamabad police had hired dozens of ‘Gullu Butts’ to vilify his party.

Qadri also rallied behind the military operation in North Waziristan. “Zarb-e-Azb is purely in accordance with Islam and the whole nation should support the armed forces in this regard,” he said. He advised his followers to mark five Fridays as ‘Zarb-e-Azb Day’. He asked them to stage peaceful rallies on these days to express solidarity with the armed forces.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2014.