LAHORE, March 16: The Pakistan Awami Tehrik chairman has announced reorganization of the party and the Tehrik Minhajul Quran to pave the way for “an economic, social, moral and educational revolution” in the country.
Talking to newsmen after announcing the reorganization plan at a workers’ convention here on Sunday, Dr Tahirul Qadri denied that the step had been taken as a result of the Tehrik’s failure in the general election.
“It is a strategic change brought out to speed up the process of revolution and ensure an improved command and control system and a better communication within the party ranks.”
He said the polls were not a criterion to judge the performance of the party as, according to him, the use of money, state agencies’ involvement and the feudal system were the major factors in determining the election results.
Under the restructuring plan, which would be implemented on an experimental basis for a year, all wings of the Minhajul Quran except the women and student wings had been merged into the Tehrik.
Dr Qadri also announced launching of an economic self-reliance programme to provide jobs to the masses through Tehrik’s network without seeking government’s support. The project would be run on the lines of a multi-national limited company as shares of Rs10,000 face value would be issued to generate funds for it, he said. He hoped even party workers here and abroad could purchase thousands of the shares.
Under the educational strategy, some 100 centres of excellence would be established in the country. Each centre would have institutes of information technology, industrial and technical education and business management equipped with state-of-the-art technology. He said under the scheme the workers would surrender 50 per cent of their income to the local organization for welfare purposes.
Answering a question about the LFO, Dr Qadri said constitutional amendments should be placed before parliament for incorporating them into the constitution as had been done by Gen Zia in 1985. He, however, said the clauses of the LFO which had already been implemented, like holding of elections to parliament and to the presidency (through the controversial referendum) should be taken as it is, and talks between the government and the opposition should be held for the rest of the clauses.
“That is the only way to come out of the present standoff,” he said, believing that the parliament would gradually get supremacy in the present setup. Earlier during his speech at the convention, the PAT chief lashed out at the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leadership, saying they had not come in and rather had been brought into the parliament. He said his party too could have grabbed 25 to 30 seats in the general elections had he accepted the terms on the basis of which the MMA had secured about 70 seats.
He lamented that the opposition did not discuss foreign policy in the National Assembly for which it had been convened, instead they (the opposition) started making a hue and cry on the LFO.