Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) among other prominent political parties from across the country took centre-stage on Wednesday at Mall Road to protest against 2014 Model Town killings.

PAT chairman Tahirul Qadri, who spoke first to the attendees, reiterated his demands of justice for the families of victims, while also demanding resignations of Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and law minister Rana Sanullah. Qadri also expressed his appreciation for leaders of aide political parties and workers for showing up and ‘honouring humanity’.

PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was also outspoken against the government on occasion and stated that Pakistan’s only threat is Jati Umra – the infamous residence of former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) spearhead Nawaz Sharif. The former president also took a dig at dictatorial governments saying that dictators do not build countries, but destroy them.

PTI chairman Imran Khan, following the footsteps of Qadri and Zardari, vehemently opposed the PML-N led government. Khan said the police fired straight at the protesters both in Model Town and in recent demonstrations subsequent to a minor’s rape and murder in Kasur and that even after 4 years, families of Model Town victims have been deprived of justice. “Nowhere in the world does the police fire straight bullets at people,” Khan said.

People over Twitter also shared their opinions regarding the joint protests and demanded #Justice4ModelTown, a hash tag that tops twitter trends in Pakistan, whereas #AllPartiesProtest ranked second.