BHAKKAR: Describing the current system as corrupt, Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri asked his supporters on Sunday to `destroy’ it if rulers failed to deliver.

Addressing a public meeting, he said his party was protesting against the “corrupt and oppressive” government, adding that if voted to power the PAT would change the entire system, build houses for the homeless on the land of feudal lords and create sectarian harmony by uniting Sunni and Shia people.

Dr Qadri claimed that the sit-in staged by PAT in Islamabad had awakened people to the need for realisation of their rights and said that rulers had been looting the country’s wealth for more than 65 years.

He said a war had begun between the rich and the poor.

“The sacrifices rendered by the participants of the sit-in gave hope to the hopeless, courage to the fearful and awareness to the unconscious. I want to serve poor people and see smile on their faces,” he said, adding that after Islamabad he was launching his ‘Inquilab’ from Bhakkar.

He said two of the PTI’s supporters who lost their lives in the Inquilab movement belonged to Bhakkar and asked people of Bhakkar to vote for Pakistan Awami Tehreek candidate Nazar Abbas in the Nov 29 by election.

Dr Qadri said the by-poll was in fact a preparatory ground for a “bigger battle” yet to come.

Published in Dawn, November 24th , 2014