ISLAMABAD: Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chief Tahirul Qadri held a telephonic conversation, on Wednesday, following which the two are set to meet in Lahore today (Thursday).
“PPP stands with the affected people of Model Town,” Zardari assured over the phone. He said that those responsible for the entire incident should be brought to justice.
The leader of the Opposition the National Assembly Khurshid Shah has confirmed that the two leaders are meeting today after the PAT chief’s invited PPP co-chairman to deliberate upon key matters.
“The meeting between Tahirul Qadri and Asif Zardari is not new. Contacts were made previously too,” said Shah in a statement. He recalled that PPP and PAT were on one page even against Musharraf in 2002.
“PPP has maintained a distance from the politics of street protests and chaos. However, in our meeting today, we will discuss ways to take the country out of the prevailing crises.”
The opposition leader also explained that matters including the current political situation, collision of the state institutions and others would be discussed in the meeting.
Commenting on the Model Town Tribunal inquiry report, Shah said, “The report is public and now it is the task of the state institutions and the judiciary to look into it.”
Extending support to Tahirul Qadri, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said if PAT takes to the streets for justice, PTI would join them.
The Najafi Report, made public on Tuesday (December 5) after three years, squared blame particularly on Rana Sanaullah as well as the Punjab Police for the 2014 incident in which 14 supporters of PAT were killed.
The tribunal, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the Lahore High Court (LHC), had submitted the 132-page report in the same year, but the Punjab government did not make it public.
A day after the publication of the report, Tahirul Qadri warned that he would launch a protest movement against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) if the culprits were not arrested.
In a telephonic conversation with Awami Muslim League Chief Sheikh Rasheed on Thursday, Qadri exchanged views on the Model Town Incident report.