Imran to meet Dr Qadri in Lahore on 26th

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) supremo Dr Tahirul Qadri will have a rare meeting in Lahore on December 26 to discuss future cooperation.

Both Imran and Dr Qadri had led their respective parties’ sit-ins in the federal capital in 2014 and were described as political cousins for sharing views on many issues, including the demand for punishment to perpetrators of the Model Town tragedy.

However, Dr Qadri’s abrupt decision to pack up his party’s sit-in had caused huge trust deficit between the two sides, as the PTI had continued its sit-in for 126 days, only to end it on account of the massive terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. The decision to leave the PTI high and dry had also shocked many workers in the PAT on October 21, who had braved weather and other hostilities for two months.

A senior PTI leader confirmed to The News that the meeting had been agreed upon following a telephonic contact between Imran and Dr Qadri last week during which PTI chairman had assured maximum cooperation to the PAT leader in its efforts for ensuring provision of justice to the families of those died during the Model Town shoot-out.

The PTI’s top-level leadership in a meeting Saturday had expressed solidarity with the PAT and decided to send a delegation to its proposed all parties conference headed by the party’s vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Imran commands significant street power, whereas Dr Qadri has cult-like image among his followers, who can do anything on his call.

The PAT’s all parties conference, scheduled for December 30, is aimed at devising a line of action to press for justice to the Model Town victims’ families.

Besides the PTI, PPP, Awami Muslim League, PML-Q and PSP have already assured Dr Qadri their full support on his demand of resignation of Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah for their alleged part in the tragedy. However, both out rightly deny having anything to do with the bloody incident.