Previous rules fooled nation in the name of ending load-shedding: Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri

PAT leader Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has asked as to where hundreds of megawatts of electricity generated by the previous government through their ads has gone, saying that the common people are braving the power outages of 16 hours a day, unable to have a sleep of a few hours despite a day-long work. He said that unscheduled load-shedding is on its peak and the people of every age groups are having to remain awake at night due to load-shedding. He appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of this situation and rid the people of the worst nightmare. He said that the office of the Chief Justice is the only powerful constitutional office that can provide immediate relief to the masses.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri stated this while talking to the Pakistani community at a luncheon hosted in his honour in Oslo the other day. He said that the electricity meter of the room in which Nawaz Sharif has been kept should be the same that is used by the common people of Pakistan so that in case of frequent power outages, he should be able to feel as to what it is that the people go through when there are so many power cuts amid this humidity and harsh weather. He said that Nawaz Sharif should also get punishment for making false promises with the nation. He said that the corrupt elite stuffed its coffers with the money in the name of building power projects during its term in office. He said had they worked on fixing the power problem with honesty of purpose, the poor and working classes would not have to brave the load-shedding for 16 hours a day.

The PAT leader said that whenever the overseas Pakistanis phone their relatives in Pakistan, they get to hear stories of pain and misery caused by such problems as load-shedding. He said that those who should be in jails are now misleading the nation once again. He said that had the massive amounts of money spent by the Sharif brothers on their projection and publicity been spent on the power projects, the people would have gotten a bit of relief and their small homes would not have been turned into jails.

Dr Qadri said that there is a talk of white paper these days. He said that they should also issue a white paper on the Model Town tragedy, telling how the innocent people including women were massacred in broad daylight; how the JIT consisting of yes men and loyal officials was set up to get a lean chit and how the FIR was registered against the oppressed with terrorism clauses so that they could not raise a voice for justice. He said that money was made from the power projects as well in the same way as Saaf Pani and Aashaniya housing project. He demanded that a high-powered commission should be set up to unearth the factors responsible for shortfall and load-shedding and the system losses in the power infrastructure. He said that the facts so collected should be placed before the nation. It should also expose the performance of the previous rulers vis-a-vis the power sector debacle.

The PAT Chairman said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan is making serious efforts to kick-start the process for construction of the dams. He wished him best of luck in his serious efforts for the welfare of the common people. He said had the previous rulers been free from their looting spree, they would have focused on building dams.

Meanwhile, Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri strongly condemned the incident of burning down of schools in Gilgit-Baltistan. He said that those doing so are not only the criminals in the eyes of the law and the constitution but also that of Islam as they violated its core teachings. He said that such nefarious characters are scum of earth and demanded that the whole state might should be used to bring them to justice.