LAHORE - Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri has said that Yaum-e-Shuhada would be observed to pay homage to the martyrs of the Model Town tragedy and martyred soldiers of Zarb-e-Azb on August 10.
He said sacrifices of Pak Army would not go waste. He asserted Yaum-e-Shuhada would be peaceful, but if the government harassed the caravans and stopped them from coming, it would be responsible for any disturbance.
He was addressing a press conference flanked by PML-Q President Ch Shujaat Hussain, Ch Parvaiz Elahi, Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza at the residence of Ch Shujaat here Wednesday.
Qadri said the Punjab government was playing the role of a murderer. He regretted that even after the lapse of two months no FIR of the bloodshed had been registered. “Can the champions of democracy say it is democracy?” Qadri said. He said forcing people to cast vote was not democracy.
The PTI chief made it clear that he did not want to damage the Constitution but wanted it to be freed from the occupation of the rulers. He said the government had caused immense loss to the public exchequer by issuing 90 SROs. He said the government had taken over 38 national institutions in violation of the orders of the apex court. He said several Model Town tragedy-like incidents had also occurred previously. He held the Punjab government responsible for killing 30 persons in the LDA Plaza fire just to burn the metro bus record. He said 300 persons died due to spurious medicines of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology and when the commission report turned out to be against a close man of the government, it was shelved. He said a brother of Punjab Law Minister Rana Mashhood had been appointed legal adviser against the monthly salary of Rs 1 million. He questioned if it was not waste of public money.
He said foreign countries had given the report to the FIA that Tahirul Qadri was not involved in money laundering of even one single rupee. This report had also been given to the prime minister and the interior minister, he said, adding the rulers should now resign for telling a lie. Dr Tahirul Qadri said there was no question of midterm elections. He said, “We have come out for securing bread, cloth and shelter for the people. We don’t want any midterm elections, but want to change the system.” To a question, he said N-League had been trying to contact him for one month, but he had refused to meet them.
On this occasion, Ch Shujat Hussain said he did not consider it appropriate to respond to nonsense statements of N-League’s ministers. He said the outcome of the revolution would be for the betterment of the people. He questioned whether it was democracy that 14 innocent citizens were killed and FIR was not registered even after two months. He said it was a universal principle that freedom always came after revolution.
Ch Parvaiz Elahi said the government had abolished 20 percent quota of the oil companies for August 11, 12 and 13 as a result of which the business community would suffer. Allama Nasir Abbas and Sahibzada Hamid Raza also spoke on the occasion.
Late Wednesday night, the Lahore district administration issued special instruction for the owners of public transporters and factories, asking them to stay away from providing any kind of help to Tahir-ul-Qadri.
The bus owners are directed not to provide transport to the PAT activists for protests and Long March while the factory owners are ordered to ensure that none of their employee joins the protests.
A PAT spokesman claimed that police started raids to arrest the PAT workers across the Punjab province.