Vocal critic: Terrorism, bad governance are similar crimes, says Qadri

Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali meets PAT chief

LAHORE: Terrorism, corruption, mismanagement and bad governance are similar crimes, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PTI) chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri said on Wednesday.

He was talking to former federal minister Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali, who called on him. Dr Hassan Mohiyuddin Qadri, Dr Raheeq Abbasi, Sheikh Zahid Fayyaz, Qazi Faizul Islam and Raja Zahid were also present.

“If the government cannot provide basics needs like electricity, water and justice then they should resign,” he said. Qadri said that a ‘political compromise’ had been reached on the deaths in Karachi.

“The energy crisis has hit the very foundations of the country,” he said. Qadri said a major operation should be launched against corruption.

“The government has failed to implement the National Action Plan (NAP). The rulers themselves are sympathetic to those who support terrorists. The mindset that leads to terrorism has to be changed. The nurseries of terrorism should be eliminated,” he said.

The PAT chief said that the government had left the responsibility for implementing the NAP to the military. “The rulers have busied themselves in collecting commissions in the construction of roads, metro buses and bridges. Negligence amounts to sabotaging the NAP,” he said.

Referring to the Model Town deaths, Qadri said that civil society, journalists and human rights activists must raise their voices to provide justice to the families of those killed by police. Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali said that he would continue to support the PAT. “The country’s survival depends on establishing the rule of law,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2015.