Practical steps needed for rights: Tarar

Published January 16, 2006

LAHORE, Jan 15: Former president Rafiq Tarar on Sunday likened the role being played by the army in Balochistan and Waziristan with the one Indian army was playing in occupied Kashmir. “Both are targeting Muslims,” he alleged while speaking at a seminar organized by the PML-N to pay tributes to incarcerated leader Javed Hashmi for 40 years of his struggle for democracy on account of which he was arrested more than 30 times in various periods.

Tarar believed people would not get back their rights unless they came out on the streets. Urging the PML-N workers and leaders to come out, he said he too was willing to sacrifice his life.

Criticizing the role of the judiciary, Tarar, himself a former judge of the apex court, urged the Supreme Court Bar president to devise a mechanism to see how the cases of opposition workers were being dealt with by courts.

Provincial president Zulfikar Khosa said the party would have to take some practical steps for the restoration of democracy and to bring Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif back.

PML-N leaders Saad Rafiq, Pervaiz Malik, Zaeem Qadri, Maimoona Hashmi, Sardar Ayyaz Sadiq, Mian Javed Lateef, Mian Marghoob, Mian Mujtaba Shujaa, Dr Asad Ashraf and Rana Mohammad Arshad also addressed.