LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri spent a busy Saturday, meeting a string of politicians who headed towards his party headquarters to meet and support him: Mustafa Kamal of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) was the first to arrive, followed shortly by Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Jehangir Khan Tareen of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

For his part, Dr Qadri presented three demands during the course of two press conferences which he held alongside Mr Kamal and the delegation from the PTI. He demanded the resignations of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah; asked the government to remove from active duty all police officials involved in the operation against PAT workers in 2014 and the meeting held before it till the court decided the case; and demanded the constitution of a joint investigation team (JIT) along the lines of the one formed to probe the Panama Papers case.

“If [these demands are] not met immediately, the PAT reserves the right to protest in every form, being it political, legal or popular — and the protest time frame could be sooner than later,” he threatened. Since new information had emerged after the Justice Ali Baqar Najafi report on the Model Town tragedy had been made public, a JIT must be constituted to ascertain those facts, he said. All the officials who participated in the meeting held in the run-up to the incident must also be removed from active posts so that they did not influence the proceedings at the JIT or other levels, Dr Qadri insisted.

PAT chief demands resignation of Shahbaz, Sana

Both party delegations that visited him on Saturday expressed support for the demands put forward by the PAT and any future course of action Dr Qadri adopted to seek justice.

Mr Kamal, accompanied by Raza Haroon, was the first to meet the PAT chief and address a press conference. The PSP leader congratulated the PAT workers for their untiring efforts to “expose the truth”. The Punjab government had tried to hide the facts for three long years but they were finally out, he said, adding that what had happened in Model Town in 2014 was sheer cruelty.

He said the police action against PAT workers must not only be condemned but efforts to obtain justice for them must also be supported. He added that this was why the PSP delegation had met Dr Qadri.

Later in the evening, a delegation of PTI workers met Dr Qadri and reiterated the message of support and solidarity expressed by their party chief Imran Khan over the phone a day earlier. They joined the PAT chief in demanding the Punjab CM’s resignation.

Mr Tareen, the PTI’s secretary general, said those responsible for what happened in the Model Town incident had been exposed. He said if CM Sharif and Mr Sanaullah did not step down, and if the PAT decided to protest, the PTI would extend complete support. “We are here to reiterate our support to the PAT in its struggle for justice and for whatever course of action the PAT decides for future,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2017