PTI, PSP too join Qadri’s bandwagon

LAHORE: Within 48 hours of PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s handshake with PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, PSP chief Mustafa Kamal and PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi also joined Qadri’s bandwagon by announcing their full support to his demand for resignation of those accused of the Model Town killings and setting up a JIT against them like that of Panama Leaks.

The PSP and PTI delegations met Qadri at the PAT secretariat separately and expressed complete solidarity with him. The PSP delegation comprised Iftikhar Randhawa, Raza Haroon, Mobinuddin Qazi, Afaq Jamal, Karamat Sheikh, Barrister Mukhtar, Amjad Farooq Bismil, Khurram Joya and Danish Khan.

The members of the PTI were Jahangir Tareen, Aleem Khan, Ijaz Chaudhry and Mehmood-ur-Rasheed. Speaking on the occasion, Qadri reiterated his demands of constituting a JIT on Model Town killings, resignations of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Law minister Rana Sanaullah and the 125 bureaucrats mentioned in Justice Baqar Najfi’s report.

“We are no more weak to demand their resignations, we are now ordering them to resign or be ready to face legal, political and decisive public agitation and consequences,” he said. Mustafa Kamal praised Qadri for his long struggle and the courage and persistence displayed by his workers. He said the Model Town killings case must reach logical conclusion, adding that he and his party would stand by Qadri in whatever strategy he would devise for seeking justice.

He said the PSP had proved its mettle by standing against the tyranny in Karachi and would stand by the victims around the country. Later, Qureshi, during his meeting with Qadri, alleged that the PML-N government had always resorted to violence; however, his party always waged a peaceful struggle.

He asserted that the Justice Najfi report made everything crystal clear, as he demanded the resignation of Shahbaz, Rana Sana and others. The PTI fully supported Qadri’s three-point agenda, Qureshi added.

He said Imran Khan had already contacted Qadri on phone and the PTI would extend full support to whatever strategy Qadri was going to devise. He remarked that the PTI’s containers were accused of derailing democracy while those of “why I was removed” (Nawaz Sharif) had been completely ignored.  

Tareen accused the Punjab government of taking all possible measures to conceal the Justice Najfi report, adding that if Shahbaz and Rana Sana did not resign, the PTI could to every extent for the sake of justice.