Broadside: Tahirul Qadri raps government over NAP

PAT chief says Sharif brothers hoodwinking the people

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chairman Tahirul Qadri said on Saturday that he had informed the world that the nation’s rulers were not sincere about implementing the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism six months ago.

Qadri made the remarks at a meeting of the party’s central executive council and central working council. He said leaders of religious and political parties who secured funds from abroad should be awarded the death penalty. Qadri said the Sharif brothers had been playing politics on the NAP and were hoodwinking the people and the military on this account as they were staunch supporters of anti-state elements.  He said they had employed terrorism to suppress their opponents and come to power.

The PAT chief said his stance on the non-implementation of the NAP stood vindicated as the Supreme Court had said exactly what he had been saying since six months. He said no progress had been made on this front despite the passage of six months. Qadri said funds for militants were continuing to pour in and the process to register seminaries engaged in proliferating hate material had not even commenced. He said neither had the National Counter Terrorism Authority started functioning nor had a curriculum for seminaries been formulated.

Qadri said protecting minorities was a duty of the government. He said nothing had been done in this regard and recommendations regarding the introduction of reforms to the judicial system had not been suggested. He said no action had been taken to prevent militant outfits from using the internet and social media.

The PAT chief said not a single point of the NAP had been implemented. He said there had been no progress on any issue that the plan was formulated to address. Qadri said the rulers had busied themselves in embezzling public funds and their failure to implement the NAP epitomised their incompetence. He said the Sharif brothers had left the nation at the mercy of terrorists and had busied themselves in obtaining commissions and kickbacks by executing motorway and metro bus projects.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2015.