LAHORE: Dr Tahirul Qadri is struggling hard to bring all opposition leadership at one platform against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) are still undecided on whether to join hands or not for the cause.

The fiery orator and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chairman remained engaged throughout the day on Sunday approaching and inviting top leaders of the opposition parties for the multiparty conference (MPC) he is holding on Dec 30 on the Model Town issue.

At least 14 PAT activists had been shot dead in clashes after police raid on the party headquarters back on June 17, 2014. The party along with PTI had taken out a long march and staged a prolonged sit-in in Islamabad in an abortive bid “to win justice for the victims”.

PTI chairman Imran Khan didn’t give his consent to attend the MPC in a telephone talk with Dr Qadri but promised to visit the latter on Tuesday and discuss with him whether he should attend the MPC in the presence of the PPP leadership or not, a PAT official said.

Imran didn’t indicate he would participate in the moot, but promised to meet PAT chief tomorrow

The Justice Baqar Najafi Commission report on the Model Town tragedy besides other political issues will also come under discussion during the meeting, he added.

The PPP is also yet to make its mind on sending its top leadership to the event aimed at demanding with one voice justice in the Model Town case.

PPP’s central information secretary Chaudhry Manzoor says that a decision on who should represent the party in the MPC will be taken in the central executive committee meeting scheduled to be held at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Tuesday, a day before the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto.

When PPP co-chairperson Asif Zardari had visited Dr Qadri earlier this month, the latter had claimed that he (the PAT chief) could make arch rivals Mr Zardari and Mr Khan sit by his side at a time of his choice.

But his efforts have so far failed to bear fruit and the PAT has to delay the MPC for a couple of days (from Dec 28 to Dec 30) to gain more time for persuading the top PPP and PTI leaderships to sit together for the cause of Model Town victims and to give a last push for the ouster of the Shahbaz government.

Meanwhile, Dr Qadri telephoned Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haq and invited them to the MPC.

A PAT spokesperson claims that the two leaders accepted Dr Qadri’s invitation and promised to attend the event in person.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2017