PAT to go ahead with sit-in

LAHORE: Irrespective of the traders association’s petition before the Lahore High Court against PAT’s sit-in (dharna) scheduled for Wednesday (today) on Mall Road, the party is determined to stage the sit-in according to its schedule with the plea that its venue is away from Mall Road, at Nasir Bagh, where it poses no threat to commercial activities.

According to sources, women, children and relatives of PAT workers killed and wounded in Model Town shootout will begin the sit-in on Wednesday evening and remain there till Thursday morning when Dr Qadri would decide to continue or terminate it. A spokesman of PAT said Dr Qadri would go to the sit in for sometimes to express solidarity with the protesters and address the media.

The spokesman said the PAT leadership had invited all allied parties to join the sit in including PTI, PML-Q, MWM, SIC, etc. but it was not known if they had confirmed their participation. PAT secretary-general Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said the LHC order had neither barred nor allowed the PAT to stage the sit-in, but it only mentioned that holding protests was barred on Mall Road. He said the PAT was not holding the sit in on Mall Road, but it would be at Nasir Bagh which was away from the Mall and cause no inconvenience to business activities of the Mall traders.

Gandapur said the ruling party was allowed to hold political activities on Mall Road just a couple of days back but the PAT was being denied its democratic right.

He said the sit in was requested by the families of martyred and wounded workers on the plea that they had left with no option but to come out on streets to seek justice on the pattern of PTI and other parties since their petition for releasing Justice Baqar Najfi commission report was being unnecessarily delayed for the last eight months and could not come up for hearing.

Addressing a meeting of party office-bearers, Dr Tahirul Qadri warned if the PAT workers were denied justice it would create frustration among them and cause to lose public trust on the state institutions and the Constitution of Pakistan. He said the Sharif Brothers were targeting him in the media only because they had read the writing on the wall that after Panama Leaks next turn would be of Model Town killings case.