PAT confident impasse will be resolved through army chief's intervention, SC told

PAT response claims progress made to resolve current impasse; says 3 of 4 lanes of Constitutional Avenue cleared

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) expressed on Saturday its confidence over the intervention of Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif to resolve the ongoing political impasse in the interest of democracy and the country.

“The leaders of PAT (and PTI) have both given a positive response and progress has been made in meetings with the army chief to clear this impasse and have a solution to the whole problem in a democratic way, meeting the demands of the demonstrators for justice and good governance,” Dr Tahirul Qadri's party said in a report submitted to the Supreme Court on Saturday.

“PAT is full of confidence that it shall be resolved finally and fully in the interest of democracy and the country,” it added.

The report, submitted by PAT counsel Ali Zafar, was in response to the Supreme Court's August 28 order regarding the clearing of one side of the Constitutional Avenue.

The response also stated that three of four lanes on Constitution Avenue have been cleared and traffic is flowing.

The party also requested the top court to dismiss a petition against ongoing protests at Constitutional Avenue.

It is to be noted that a five judge larger bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Justice Nasirul Mulk, will resume the hearing of several petitions, filed by different bar associations against any extra constitutional steps on Monday (September 1).

Meanwhile, a member of the PAT team, which is negotiating with the government, told The Express Tribune that the dialogue has failed due to the government’s refusal for getting a resignation from the premier and the chief minister of Punjab.