Summary Tahirul Qadri will deliver his final sit-in protest today at 3 PM.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) activists continue the 14th day of their sit-in protests in the Red Zone of Islamabad on Thursday, Dunya News reported. PAT chief Tahirul Qadri will deliver his final address today at 3PM. Tahirul Qadri concluded the negotiations yesterday (Wednesday) after terming it a complete failure, and announced that ‘revolution’ will start after lunch at 3 pm while fervently calling upon local and foreign supporters to join ‘youm-e-inqilaab’.
He said that he agreed for peaceful dialogue with the government but now that the talks have failed, there is no room for any further negotiations.
Qadri refused further negotiation until the government accepts the following two demands:
1 – Case registration against nominated accused of Model Town tragedy.
2 – Resignations of Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and provincial ministers.
Qadri blamed the government for having a non-serious attitude to resolve the political crisis, and said that representatives from the government do not need to come back if these two demands were not accepted.
PAT chief said that Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s resignation is a distant reality but the government is not even registering a First Information Report (FIR) against the 21 accused people in the Model Town tragedy. The 21 accused include the CM, PM and police officers. Qadri added that the government is responsible for the 14 people killed and 90 injured in the Model Town tragedy.
While grieving over the Model Town tragedy, Qadri said that an Additional Sessions judge had sanctioned the registration of the FIR, and even after the government’s appeal, the Lahore High court upheld the lower court’s decision but still the government refused to implement it.
Qadri concluded the sessionlast night by saying that Thursday’s ‘historic address’ would be the last address, and then ‘Inqilab’ would begin after lunch at 3 pm because the government has negotiated with ‘ill-intentions’. He added that if the government accepts those two demands as a confidence-building measure only then he would extend the ultimatum.
After Qadri’s address on Wednesday night, his followers gathered and gave Azan at the protest venue. The PAT activists tightened the security at the sight of the protest rally, fearing any government action after the talks with the government failed. Most of the activists kept wide awake to monitor the situation. Qadri’s followers have started gathering at the protest venue since early morning waiting for their chief’s final sit-in address today at 3 PM. According to sources, Qadri will make some important announcement regarding PAT’s future course of action.
