PAT to hold demonstrations on May 17 in Islamabad & countrywide protests on June 17

Addressing a heavily crowded press conference along with Khurram Nawaz Gandapur after the meeting of Federal Council, PAT President Dr Raheeq Ahmad Abbasi has said that PAT will observe May 11 as the black day and issue a white paper to expose the corruption, mismanagement and poor performance of the federal government. He said that as long as even a single PAT worker is alive, there will be no compromise on the Model Town tragedy. He announced that PAT will hold demonstration in Islamabad on May 17 and the countrywide rallies on June 17. He said that as long as Shahbaz Sharif continues as the Chief Minister, fair investigation into Model Town is out of question. He said that innocent workers are being handed down punishments in fake and politically motivated cases, adding that the Punjab government wanted to recover a truckload of prohibited weapons from MQI Secretariat. He said that this heinous conspiracy was thwarted exposed by patriotic journalists.

The PAT President said that if there is an excellent environment for investment in the country, the Prime Minister should bring back his own and that of his family’s wealth stashed in foreign banks and invest it here. He said that increase in duration of load-shedding and surge in prices represents the failure of the government. He said that the government is not acting upon the provisions of the National Action Plan, adding that these are the armed forces alone that are busy eliminating terrorism from the country.

Dr Abbasi said that targeted operation in Karachi is being carried out without any discrimination. He said that criticism against the military deserves the strongest condemnation. He said that whenever anti-army rhetoric is churned out, the PM remains silent till the statement of ISPR. He said that the PM or any minister or a PML-N office holder never attended the funeral prayers of the martyred jawan or soldier of the armed forces. However, they expressed their regrets in the Parliament on the killing of Baitullah Mehsud, he maintained.

Rejecting the JIT once again, the PAT President said that the investigation team has been constituted with an aim to give a clean chit to the killers. He said that the journalists exposed terrorism and hooliganism of Punjab police on June 17 by endangering their lives. He said that we pay rich tributes to the brave journalists for their services on the International Day of Journalism. At this, all those attending the meeting of the Federal Council stood up to acknowledge the services of journalists and continued to clap for some time.

Dr Raheeq Abbasi announced that PAT will field its candidate for NA-108 in Mandi Bahauddin and take part in the upcoming local bodies elections with full preparation. He said that we have evolved a strategy for election to village councils in KP as well. He further said that PAT will also participate in the local government elections in GB and he would be starting his visit to the region from Tuesday onward. He said that work has been started to reorganize PAT throughout the country. He said that 10-point agenda is our manifesto. He demanded the withdrawal of fake cases registered against the workers. He said that our workers are determined and ready to offer any sacrifice for justice.

Faiz-ur-Rehman Durrani, Sheikh Zahid Fayyaz, Bashrat Aziz Jaspal, Amir Farid Koreja, Brig. (r) Mushtaq Ahmad, Fayyaz Warriach, Jawad Hamid, Rafique Najam, Ahmad Nawaz Anjum, Farah Naz, Ayesha Shabbir, Shoaib Tahir, Irfan Yousaf, Farhat Hussain Shah, Rana Idrees and others were also present on the occasion.