Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri’s arrives in Pakistan to a warm welcome

Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chief Dr Mohammad Tahir-ul-Qadri arrived in Lahore, Pakistan, on Monday morning. He was received by a throng of supporters and activists at Allama Iqbal International Airport.

The PAT chief arrived at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore at 8:00 am where the party’s Lahore chapter gave a rousing reception to him. The PAT chief had rejected the Punjab policy security who offered eight Elite Force vehicles to guard Dr Qadri, so his party workers escorted him under high security to his residence in Model Town.

According to the officials of PAT, over 4,000 activist and workers were outside the airport to welcome their leader. Dr Qadri arrived at his residence in a rally that stopped at six points: Bhatta Chowk, Ghazi Road, Qainchi Amar Sadhu, Kot Lakhpat, Akbar Chowk and Faisal Town.

While departing from London where he was for the launching of his “Peace Curriculum to Counter Terrorism”, Dr Qadri said, “I’ll fulfill my commitment until last breath and today my departure for Pakistan is enough to dismiss widespread rumours that I might not return.”

The highlights of press conference

Here are the highlights of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri’s press conference he held at his residence.

Today the PAT workers demonstrated so much love for their party chief in the intense heat of June in the holy month of Ramadan.

This is the place, 365 M Model Town Lahore, where the police shot dead the fourteen members of the PAT last year on 17 June. The media personnel are eyewitnesses of the torture and atrocities committed in Model own. Also, they gave extensive live coverage to the cold-blooded murders and telecast it to the whole nation who the killers were. The media are the biggest JIT; no govt-constituted JIT was needed or is needed to probe the Model Town incident.

At least this has been made public that before the Model Town massacre a meeting was held to pull down the barriers from the headquarters of Minhaj-ul-Quran. In fact, the plan to kill the PAT activists was prepared beforehand in Islamabad in the Prime Minister House. Then the chief executive of the province of Punjab was tasked to carry out the operation. He issued directives to the Punjab police, so they operated at the behest of the political class at the helm.

It is said that the PAT workers and leaders do not cooperate with the JIT for investigating the murders. The PAT will certainly work as a team with a JIT when it is headed by those who are not influenced by the Sharifs.

In recent weeks the police killed peaceful citizens in Daska and then in Rawalpindi. If the culprits of Model Town case had been brought to justice and penalized, the two above mentioned murders had not taken place. The police themselves bump off innocents, an FIR is filed in a police station by the police and the witnesses are the police – those very people who kill. Can justice be served under such circumstances?

When the police kills innocents, the chief minister of Punjab rushes to the bereaved family with state money. The helpless, knowing full well that justice will not be dispensed, are left with no option but to except the blood money.

However, the venal regime has failed to buy the loyalty of even a single PAT activist over the Model Town massacre. Though the PAT workers are poor, they are committed. I pay my tributes to the sacrifices of my workers.