Daily Times

LAHORE: Following the recent Quetta blast, which claimed the lives of lawyers, journalists and a large number of people on Monday, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has postponed the second phase of its ‘Qasas Movement’ till August 20.

The party chief had initially announced that the second phase of the movement would start from August 16 for which sit-ins and rallies by PAT in different cities of the country were planned.

PAT Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri, along with different party leaders and thousands of workers, on the occasion wore black armbands to show solidarity with the victims of Quetta blast and later held absentee funeral prayers for the deceased. Special prayers for quick recovery of injured were led by Dr Tahirul Qadri.

Later, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday, the PAT chairman said that has was sorrowful and depressed over the Quetta tragedy, similar to what he felt when Model Town, Army Public School, Baldia Factory, May 12 Karachi and Gulshan-e-Iqbal tragedies occurred.

“We had assured our support even to our opponents on the National Action Plan but all the civil institutions failed to implement the plan, thus committing an unforgivable offense,” Qadri said, adding that it was painful that the viewpoint of the Balochistan chief minister over the incident was in contradiction to its allies.

“More astonishing was the silence of the prime minister who went to Quetta only for a photo session,” he added.

The PAT chief said that the nation wanted to know as to why any action was not being initiated on the NAP even after passage of 17 months. “How many meeting has the PM held to review the progress on NAP?” he asked.

The religious scholar stated that in order to break the backbone of terrorists, a Karachi-like Operation Zarb-e-Azb should be initiated in Punjab, which was the breeding ground of all terrorists and extremists.

He said that Pakistan Army had completed over 98 percent of its responsibilities as far as the NAP was concerned, but the civil administration has not done anything in this regard. He said the army should also take action against those who were funding and supporting terrorists’ organisations in Punjab, adding that their facilitators should be exposed in order to sesitise the entire nation regarding terrorism and its functionalities.

Qadri stated that the reason behind the failure of National Assembly in approving a resolution condemning the Quetta blast was evident from the fact that only 40 out of 370 members were present in the house. “This was a crude joke on the martyrs of the blast and all those who have laid down their lives fighting terrorism,” the PAT chief deplored.