PAT elects new office-bearers

LAHORE: Qazi Zahid Hussain from Sindh has been elected as central president and Khurram Nawaz Gandapur from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been as secretary general of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in the intra-party polls held here on Sunday at the party secretariat.

Announcing the names of central and provincial office-bearers elected in the polls, PAT Election Commissioner Rana Fayyaz Ahmed said Qazi Zahid Hussain and Khurram Nawaz Gandapur have been elected as the central president and secretary general, respectively, while Abrar Hussain Reza advocate as president and Raja Munir general secretary of PAT Islamabad. Mian Rehan Asad Maqbool Shahid and Karamat Ali have been elected as central Punjab president and general secretary, while president and Gen Secretary North Punjab are Qazi Shafiqur Rehman and Sardar Muhammad Sabir Khan; of KPK, Usman Ali and Pir Muneeb Ahmed; of Sindh, Pervez Hussain and Abdul Ghafoor Bhatti; of Balochistan, Muhammad Ismail and Mir Mikael Nazar Sanjarani; of Lahore, Dr Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry and Gulzar Hassan Shah; of Hazara, Naseer Khan Jadoon and Kamran Sohail; of Karachi, Qaiser Iqbal Qadri and Rao Kamran;. Noor Ahmed Sehu has been elected president of south Punjab, while polling for general secretary will be held again.

Speaking at an oath-taking ceremony, Qazi Zahid Hussain and Khurram Gandapur said PAT is an ideological party. They said Minhaj-ul-Quran chief Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri gave the nation ideas about understanding the constitution, fundamental rights and comprehensive reforms as he considered politics a source for serving humanity and worship.

They said the PAT is working to make Pakistan a truly Islamic, democratic and welfare state. Several resolutions were also adopted at the meeting including that urged upon the government to share a certified copy of the proposed prevention of Conversion Bill with all schools of thought and the Council of Islamic Ideology should be consulted on the bill. Another resolution demanded that the accused police officers and personnel named in the FIR in the Model Town tragedy case and summoned by the Lahore Anti-Terrorism Court be removed from their posts to ensure justice in the case. Another resolution strongly condemned inflation, regretting that the price spiral has made the lives of low-income groups fairly difficult. The government should control ‘artificial’ inflation and provide special subsidies on flour, sugar and cooking oil. A resolution called for immediately holding local elections, while another sought carving out the South Punjab province on administrative grounds as per the unanimous resolution passed by the Punjab Assembly because mere creation of a separate South Punjab secretariat would not solve the problems being faced by the people of the southern belt. Through another resolution, it demanded water management to overcome the growing water shortage and increase its storage by constructing small dams besides large reservoirs to harvest rain and flood waters. It demanded provision of seeds, diesel, electricity and fertilizers to the farmers at discounted rates. Another resolution called for the world to move towards clean energy which is not only affordable but environmentally friendly.