Tahirul Qadri returns to Pakistan, 'seeks justice' for 2014 Model Town incident victims
Prominent cleric and head of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Tahirul Qadri, on his return to Pakistan on Tuesday, said that he had come back to seek justice for the victims of the 2014 Model Town incident and their families.
In June 2014, seven people, including members of the PAT, were killed during a clash between PAT protesters and policemen in Lahore.
At least 80 others were injured in the clashes that had broken out when police went to the party's headquarters in Model Town and PAT activists resisted their operations.
Addressing the media at Lahore airport, Qadri said that he had not expected the Supreme Court's verdict in the Panamagate case that disqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif under Article 62 of the Constitution.
He said that Nawaz had been disqualified for "lying and looting" and in order to rid the nation of corruption Articles 62 and 63 will have to be enforced.
He added that after the Panamagate verdict, getting justice for the victims of the 2014 incident appeared to be a possibility.
"The Supreme Court's verdict will pave the way to justice," Qadri said.
"Who is Nawaz Sharif protesting against on GT Road?" Qadri asked referring to the former premier's rally which is expected to depart from Islamabad for Lahore via GT Road on Wednesday.
The rally is being held to welcome the Sharif to Lahore, his hometown, for the first time after he was disqualified.
Qadri had spent a few weeks in Pakistan in June and left the country on July 1 to visit Egypt, UK and Norway.
On July 13, after the report of the joint investigation team that probed allegations of money laundering against the Sharif family surfaced, Qadri had said that he may return to the country at any moment and had demanded that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif quit because “his crime now stands proven”.
Seperately, on July 14, an Anti-Terrorism Court in Islamabad moved to seize properties belonging to Qadri and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan after the two repeatedly failed to appear in hearings of the Asmatullah Junejo case, which pertains to an attack on a policeman during the 2014 sit-in in Islamabad.
