LAHORE: Before giving a call for his ‘revolution march’, Dr Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has decided to hold a rally in Lahore at which it will give a ‘last warning’ to the PML-N government to bring to justice the people involved in the killing of its 12 supporters in the Model Town tragedy.

The decision was taken at a meeting Dr Qadri held with leaders of the PML-Q and Awami Muslim League (AML) here on Saturday. Those who attended the meeting were PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Pervaiz Elahi, Senator Kamil Ali Agha, Basharat Raja and AML president Sheikh Rashid.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Chaudhry Shujaat said that the PML-Q and Dr Qadri had finalised the plan for the ‘revolution march’.

In reply to a question, Pervaiz Elahi said: “We are not afraid of arrests and house arrests. People will come out against the rulers.”

He said details of the ‘revolution march’ would be announced on Sunday.

A source in the PAT told Dawn that Dr Qadri would announce the date of the Lahore rally on Sunday at a press conference.

Dr Qadri meets political leaders to finalise plan for protests against government

“Before giving a call for the revolution march, the PAT chief and his allies have decided to hold a big public rally in Lahore to put pressure on the PML-N government to accept their demands,” he added.

He said Dr Qadri was keen to get justice in the Model Town incident. “The PAT filed an application with the police station concerned for registration of an FIR against those involved in the murder of PAT’s followers but to no avail,” he added.

He said a multi-party conference in Lahore had demanded resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for allegedly ordering police to open fire on unarmed protesters and for the constitution of a three-member commission comprising apex court’s judges to investigate the matter.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz, federal ministers Pervaiz Rashid, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Khawaja Asif and Khawaja Saad Rafique, Minister of State Abid Sher Ali, former provincial law minister Rana Sanullah, police officials Shafiq Ahmed Gujjar, Rana Abdul Jabbar and Tariq Aziz are among 21 people nominated in the application submitted by the PAT/Minhajul Quran for the registration of the case.

About the talks with the Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), he said that the PAT and the PTI were engaged in finalising modalities for what he called the “Azadi March and Inqlabi March”. The marches of the two parties would have to meet at some point to send the PML-N government packing, he added.

Meanwhile, Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas called on Dr Qadri at his residence and announced his party’s support for the PAT’s march.

Mr Abbas said that people were against “this corrupt and imperialistic system”. “Time has come to send the ruling elite home. Now the common people will rule the country,” he added.

Published in Dawn, Aug 3rd, 2014