ISLAMABAD: Responding to political parties’ declarations in the joint session of parliament, both Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri vowed to persevere with the sit-ins until their demands were met and both Sharif brothers resigned from their positions.
Mr Khan also revealed that he had asked party vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi to attend Wednesday’s session and, after laying the party’s stance before the house, hand in their party’s resignations.
Following a malfunction in his sound system, Dr Tahirul Qadri joined Imran Khan atop the latter’s container as he addressed “Inqilab marchers” and “Azadi tigers” on Tuesday evening.
This was the first time the two leaders have met publicly since they both arrived in the capital with their respective supporters, on August 16.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi to spell out PTI’s stance in parliament today
Invited over by Mr Khan, Dr Qadri embraced the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief before beginning his speech.
Congratulatory speech
He congratulated the crowds gathered on Constitution Avenue, waving around a copy of the fresh FIR registered over the Model Town killings, saying that big names – like those of Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah and several federal ministers – had been added to the FIR, which now also included the relevant sections of the Anti-Terror Act that had been omitted earlier.
“The Punjab chief minister promised that he would resign if the investigation report held him responsible for any wrongdoing. Their own probe, which we refused to become a part of, has now pointed the finger squarely at him, but he remains in office,” Dr Qadri said.
His speech was also accentuated with the beats of DJ Butt, whose signature style adds popular appeal to most PTI leaders’ speeches.
The Pakistan Awami Tehreek leader distanced himself from the attack on PTV headquarters a day earlier and denied that his party’s leadership was in contact with the military.
He stressed that the government was responsible for providing its citizens with food, healthcare services, education and security under the Constitution of the land.
“But in the last 41 years, governments have failed to implement the first 40 articles of the 1973 Constitution that guarantee the fundamental rights of all Pakistanis,” he thundered.
Referring to the Sharif brothers’ propensity to travel abroad, he alleged, “They prefer to go abroad because that is where kickbacks come from. That is where they get commissions and build their own business empires.”
‘I don’t need lectures’
Later at night, PTI chief Imran Khan took the stage to address his followers and said: “I don’t need lectures on democracy from parliamentarians. The system in Pakistan is kleptocracy, not a democracy.”
Addressing Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as a ‘field marshal’, he asked, “Can you tell me why the police fired live bullets on my supporters?”
Speaking about dissident party leader Javed Hashmi, he said he accorded the leader from Multan more respect than any other political figure. “I was hurt by his allegation that I was being backed by the army and the chief justice in my struggle for naya Pakistan,” Mr Khan said.
He lauded Aitzaz Ahsan for delivering what he called a “balanced speech” in the National Assembly but criticised him for terming the current sit-ins “unconstitutional”.
“Chaudhry Aitzaz, if the (movement) to restore the chief justice was constitutional, then how is this sit-in unconstitutional,” he asked.
Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2014
