Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri is expected to return from London today (Wednesday). Speaking to the media at the Heathrow Airport in London, he vowed to avenge the killing of his party workers at the hands of the police in Model Town two years ago. He said that no progress had been made on investigation into the killing of his supporters despite the fact that a “one-sided enquiry committee” blamed the Punjab government for the killings. Later, Qadri boarded a Qatar Airways flight to Lahore via Doha that was expected to land in Lahore today. The firebrand cleric will lead a sit-in at Faisal Chowk on The Mall on June 17, the second anniversary of the Model Town incident. The Lahore administration has given conditional permission to the PAT for the sit-in. At least 14 PAT workers were killed and more than 100 injured when Punjab Police opened fire on them outside the Minhaj-ul-Quran religious school owned by Qadri. The PAT workers had put up resistance when the police tried to remove barriers outside the school. Qadri has described the incident as state terrorism. Independent analysts are of the view that the government acted in haste with regard to removal of barriers outside Qadri’s school.