PAT to support Opp over ToRs

| Dr Qadri to announce today first phase of anti-govt drive to get justice for Model Town victims

LAHORE - Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) will announce support to opposition parties for launching a possible campaign over Panama leaks ToRs issue today (Sunday), close aides of Dr Tahirul Qadri told The Nation yesterday.

At the same time Dr Qadri will announce first phase of anti-government drive to get justice for the victims of Model Town carnage.

Both the announcements will be made after the conclusion of a multi-party conference organized under the auspices of PAT at its central secretariat today, added the aides of PAT chief.

A meeting of the party’s core committee had decided to support the opposition parties’ drive over the issue of Panama leaks ToRs. The committee had also decided to launch first phase of party’s anti-government campaign to get justice for Model Town killings, aides to Dr Qadri informed the paper.

The meeting further decided that PAT, during its protest drive, would demand from the army chief to get them justice for the Model Town massacre. The FIR of the PAT against the Model Town killings became possible only with the help of COAS and he was the man who would ensure justice for Model Town victims, they added.

The core committee meeting in another resolve decided to invite the political parties’ taking part in consultative meeting to join PAT’s drive on Model Town victims.

However, it was also decided that PAT would proceed according to its plan with regard to campaign over Model Town incident with or without the support of other political forces, Dr Qadri’s aides said.

Besides the key issues of Model Town incident and Panama Papers, other agenda items of Sunday’s multi-party consultative moot could be issue of load shedding, law and order situation and Kashmiris genocide drive by Indian forces, they added.

PAT spokesperson Noorullah Siddiqui told the paper that PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chaudhry Sarwar would participate in the moot. Leaders from PML-Q include Raja Basharat, Kamil Ali Agha and Tariq Bashir Cheema. PPP leaders Manzoor Wattoo and Latif Khosa would join the PAT conference. JI would be represented by Liaquat Baloch and Fareed Paracha. Sahibzada Hamid Raza would represent Sunni Ittehad Council and Nasir Shirazi to head Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen delegation.

Ehsan Wyne would represent ANP while MQM has not confirmed its delegation as yet because most of its leadership is out of country, he added.

The core committee members who held late yesterday meeting under the chair of Dr Qadri include Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Basharat Jaspal, Brigadier (R) Muhammad Mushtaq, Kh Amir Koreja, Noorullah Siddiqui, Fayyaz Warraich and Dr Ahsan Zamir, said the PAT spokesperson.

Political pundits are not attaching importance to PAT-sponsored multi-party conference saying the ruling party had no threat unless all the opposition parties decide a joint move against the government.

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