Homeword bound: Tahirul Qadri to arrive in Lahore today

PAT leader says the cruelty of the rulers can no longer be tolerated

LAHORE: Firebrand cleric and head of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Dr Tahirul Qadri is expected to return to Pakistan on Monday a little over six months after carrying out a gruelling but indecisive movement against the government.

According to PAT leaders, the Dr Qadri will reach Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International airport at 7:30am, where he will be received by his party workers.

The PAT chief left London on Sunday at 2pm and will stay in Dubai for a few hours before leaving for Pakistan. Earlier, PAT Supreme Council chairman and son of Dr Qadri, Hassan Mohiyuddin Qadri, had announced that the PAT chief would reach Pakistan on June 29.

Dr Qadri had left Pakistan for the United States on December 3 last year, citing ill health as the reason for his departure.

Last week, he launched a “counter-terrorism” curriculum in London, to rebut the message of militant groups such as Islamic State (IS) and stop young people becoming radicalised and heading to Syria.

Dr Qadri, whose supporters laid siege to the Parliament House last August, said that he wanted his 900-page curriculum, containing theological and ideological arguments to undermine extremists, to be taught not just at mosques and Islamic institutions, but also at schools across Britain.

Talking to reporters at Heathrow Airport, he said the government has failed to curb terrorism. “For the last 10 days, the rulers have been witnessing deaths of innocent people in Karachi [due to heatwave].” He also said this cruelty of the rulers can no longer be tolerated.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2015.