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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri addressing sit-in participants on Monday requested that they prepare for a revolution and presented a 48-hour deadline to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.
Qadri warned, “I ask the members of National Assembly to leave the house before my deadline expires.”
He applauded the efforts of the PAT supporters who he said continued to participate in what he said is a "historic protest".
Qadri remarked that in the history of Pakistan there is no example of this many people participating for a sit-in.
"All the credit for this struggle goes to the people," he said.
Qadri blamed the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for letting the situation escalate to this stage.
“The government arrested more than 10,000 of our workers before the start of this march,” he said, adding that, “These people who showed up are the true representatives of the people.”
According to Qadri, the twelfth day of this protest was now transforming into a revolution. “We do not believe in these assemblies and its so-called representatives,” Qadri said. “The assemblies and elections were unconstitutional.”
| Aside: Rallies, by Feica |
The PAT chief alleged that the procedure followed to select the election setup and the way the elections were carried out, assemblies were formed, was in clear violation of Article 213, and added that no one from any political party dared to disagree with him on this point.
“We consider the government unconstitutional from the very first day,” said Qadri.
Firebrand Canadian cleric Tahirul Qadri aims at ousting a democratically-elected government and enforcing what he calls the "people's parliament".
Qadri had earlier appealed to the masses to turn up in large number for the people's parliament and that “it will now be 'haraam' to sit at home”.
