ISLAMABAD:
In a surprise move, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, who was treated as a persona non grata by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) activists a couple of days back, once again visited the PAT dharna outside the Parliament House on Sunday in a fresh push for a negotiated settlement of the prevailing political imbroglio.
PAT officials had returned Rafique when he, along with another colleague, had come to visit PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri at D-Chowk, because he has been nominated by the party as an accused in the June 17 killings at Lahore’s Model Town. Since Rafique was aware of his first bitter experience, he came to see Qadri on Sunday along with a Pir Sahib whom the PAT chief holds in high esteem.
Qadri revealed that Rafique used to be a regular visitor at the Minhajul Quran Secretariat at Model Town from 1989 to 1991. “[In today’s meeting] Saad Rafique referred to that time but I told him that time has changed now. I have been listening to your recent speeches,” Qadri said. Talks between the two sides have hit a deadlock and the PAT put the blame on the government.
After the meeting, Qadri said that Rafique conveyed him a message that the government was ready to talk about the Model Town tragedy. The first two rounds, he said, stumbled over this issue.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Rafique said that he has appealed to Qadri to end the deadlock. “We are thankful to Dr Tahirul Qadri for expressing readiness for meaningful and result-oriented negotiations,” he said and expressed hope that talks with the PAT would resume soon.
The railways minister is said to have told the PAT chief that the government was ready to register the FIR of Model Town killings. “The solution to all issues will be found through talks,” he added.
Responding to a question, he said the shipping containers could not be removed from the entry and exit points of the Red Zone because there were serious security threats.
Qadri said that Rafique had basically come to seek his permission so that the PAT team could reengage in talks with government negotiators. The PAT team had told Rafique that they would not meet the government negotiators until Qadri gave them the go-ahead. “If you do not have answer to our demands over the Model Town tragedy, then we cannot have talks on other points,” Qadri is said to have told Rafique.
Later in the day, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari spoke to the PAT leader by telephone and discussed the current situation, according to a statement issued by the PPP.
Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Liaquat Baloch addressed PAT workers and endorsed their demand that an FIR should be registered in the Model Town killings case. “Chief Minster Shahbaz Sharif should step down until investigations into Model Town incident are concluded,” he added.
Baloch expressed support for the 10 demands of the PAT and said that free and fair investigations into the Model Town tragedy were not possible as long as Shahbaz Sharif was in office.
Sahibzada Abulkhair Zubair from the Milli Yakjehti Council, an umbrella of religious parties, also endorsed PAT’s viewpoint and said that introduction of the Islamic system was the only way to success for the country. He added that some quarters were promoting sectarianism in garb of sit-ins, but their designs would be foiled at all costs.
Addressing a news conference after a meeting with Qadri, Abulkhair also offered mediation between the government and the PAT. “Religious parties are ready to play their role to end the standoff between the two sides,” he added.
Abulkhair, who is also a central leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, expressed his resolve that the Constitution, Parliament and democratic process would be defended and efforts would be made to steer the country out of present turmoil.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2014.
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