LAHORE - The military quarters would use backdoor channels to remind the people concerned to ensure justice to the victims of Model Town incident, if the Army Chief has made any commitment with Dr Tahirul Qadri as claimed by him.

However, there will be no open or public response from the military to the appeals made by Qadri and Sheikh Rasheed the other day in their speeches wherein they asked Army Chief for help in this regard. This is what the military establishment members said during background interviews with The Nation yesterday.

In his speech delivered to a huge gathering for his Tehreek-i-Qisas at Rawalpindi on Saturday, PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri reminded the COAS of his ‘promise’ of securing justice for Model Town tragedy victims.

“You are close to your retirement, what will become of your promise? You can ensure justice for the victims and their orphans,” said Qadri while addressing to the Army Chief.

“If you can hold General Obaidullah Khattak accountable, it is also your responsibility to ensure that Dr Qadri gets justice for the Model Town tragedy,” said Awami Muslim League head Sheikh Rasheed addressing the Army Chief.

“Army doesn’t need these antics to move in. Such decisions are made after thorough deliberations and never on the spur of the moment,” said the military establishment members.

“Contingency plans are prepared to respond to situations as they evolve or develop and monitored closely. There could be a thorough study of pros and cons of what can or needs to be done to help Model Town victims, provided the Army Chief has made any kind of commitment with Dr Qadri as claimed by him.” “In that case, backdoor channels will be used to get the desired results. Otherwise, the subject could come up for discussion at an appropriate level to further the cause of justice,” they added.

About the appropriate level forum for discussion, they said it is a practice in the army that military top leadership and key intelligence service ISI advise the government about the issues which agitate all ranks as well as others.

Model Town incident and its ramifications are most likely to form part of such an advice in the near future, they added. It has become a practice for quite some time to associate any unusual event with army without having any evidence. In 2014 Azadi and Inqilaab marches of Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri’s were allegedly linked with certain military quarters without any evidence.

It is strange, the ruling party had requested the military top leadership to bail them out of the political quagmire created because of their own shortcomings and failures of governance issues, said the military establishment members while sharing views over accusations about military’s backing any unusual development in the country.

Why the Army Chief had bailed the ruling party out of a political crisis if the institution had some stakes in 2014 protests, they questioned.

In another accusation or malicious campaign against the top national institution recently, certain banners and posters urging the Army Chief to take over the political setup had been associated with the army. And look what came out of that campaign, the military high command directed an inquiry into the matter to one of its intelligence agency. In the result of inquiry, the person involved in the drive was booked under the law, they said. In a most recent incident of similar nature, a useless debate has been generated by certain quarters about an offer to the COAS by the government for extension in service or becoming the Field Marshal for making clear headway in war on terror.

What’s that nonsense, when the COAS had rejected such baseless reports in the past why there is a debate allowed to become part of news media, they added.