LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri said on Wednesday he would return to the country next month to take part in his party’s struggle for getting justice in the Model Town incident in which the Punjab police allegedly killed 14 workers in June last year.

“I am of the firm belief that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, former law minister Rana Sanaullah and former principal secretary to the chief minister Dr Tauqeer Shah are directly responsible for the Model Town incident.

We have taken to the street to get justice as the protest has been under way in 40 cities,” Dr Qadri told a news conference through a video link here on Wednesday.

“We reject the Joint Investigation Team’s report which gave a clean chit to the culprits. All those officials involved in the murder of the PAT workers have been given prized positions. Dr Taqueer was appointed to the WTO and SP Salman allowed to flee the country,” he said, adding the government had recruited “terrorists and extortionists” in the Punjab police.

He said had the culprits in the Model Town case been punished the Daska incident would not have happened.

Dr Qadri said he wanted to bring to the knowledge of the security agencies that the “Sharifs empire” was paving the way for Daesh (the self-styled Islamic State) in Pakistan. “The Sharif empire earlier allowed the Taliban to strengthen and now it had turned a blind eye to the activities of Daesh. It is an attempt to fail Zarb-i-Azb,” he said.

Qadri said he would return to the country next month.

“Before my arrival here I will make a stopover in London to launch my 25 books, 10 in Urdu and remaining in English and Arabic, against terrorism. I will also introduce syllabus I have prepared to promote peace in the country,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2015

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