Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri's message of 'save the state, not politics' still relevant: PAT

PAT Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur has said that the people want to get rid of the current exploitative system. He said that the slogan of "saving the state, not politics" raised by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri during his historic speech at the biggest public gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan on December 23, 2012, continues to remain the most relevant even today. He said that eight years ago, Dr Qadri had described the electoral system based on rigging, duress, and money as the root cause of Pakistan's predicaments, stating that the same system continues to be the biggest hurdle in the progress, peace, and prosperity of the country even today.

Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said that it is a matter of misfortune that the historic corruption of the political elite has become obscured in the layers of bad governance of the present rulers. He said Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri led and facilitated a rare consensus among different walks of life including the youth to change the system. He said that the patriotic educated sections of society want to get rid of the same rigged system that works against the interests of the masses. He reminded that Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri emphasized the need for implementing Articles 62 & 63 in letter and spirit to cleanse politics from the corrupt elements. He said the biggest robber of Pakistan's history was expelled from power on the basis of the same legal provisions, adding that if the Articles are acted upon, the remainder of the dirt will also be washed off.

PAT Secretary General said that the hundreds of thousands of people gathered at Minar-e-Pakistan in biting cold and expressed their disapproval of and disappointment with the system based on the plunder of the national resources. He said that it was for the first time in history after the establishment of Pakistan that women, children, doctors, teachers, and engineers became part of the movement to change the system. He said the mammoth public meeting on December 23, 2012, was neither held before nor would be held in the future. He said that the dream of the implementation of real democracy dreamed by the patriotic masses on December 23 will surely become a reality. He said no fraudster can stop the way of real progress. He said the masses and the media had described the public meeting at the Minar-e-Pakistan and the long march for the electoral reforms as historic development whose reverberations continue to be felt even today.

Meanwhile, senior PAT leaders Rafique Najam, Basharat Jaspal, GM Malik, Ahmad Nawaz Anjum, Sardar Shakir Mazari, Raja Zahid, Hafiz Ghulam Farid, Qazi Faiz-ul-Islam, Arif Chaudhry, Jawad Hamid, Ibrar Raza Advocate, Qazi Shafique, and Mrs. Farah Naz stated in their joint statement that huge public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan was a referendum against the current rotten system.