LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party leader Asif Ali Zardari will again meet Pakistan Awami Tehreek chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri here on Friday (today) to reassure his party’s support for the cause of seeking justice for Model Town victims.

The visit comes a day before the Multi-Party Conference (MPC) the PAT has convened for Dec 30 and two days after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan met Dr Qadri.

The MPC is being organised to muster support of the opposition parties against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on the issue of killing of 14 PAT workers in a police raid on PAT offices in Model Town back in June 2014.

The PAT and PTI had jointly held Islamabad sit-ins in an abortive bid to remove the PML-N government for what officials of the two parties say to ensure an impartial probe into the killings.

Dr Qadri has again set Dec 31 deadline for resignation of “main accused” Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and has threatened to come on roads if the demand is not met by that time.

A press release issued by the PAT says Dr Qadri and Mr Zardari, who had earlier visited the PAT chief two weeks ago on Dec 7, will discuss the current political situation and various aspects of the MPC.

The convening of the MPC necessitated that Mr Zardari should meet Dr Qadri again to reassure the PPP support for the cause in the backdrop that the former president himself may not be available for the moot where the party will be represented by a delegation, says senior vice-president Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, who had accompanied Mr Zardari in the Dec 7 meeting.

Defending Mr Zardari’s decision of not attending the MPC, Mr Wattoo says main leaderships usually don’t join events such as these and to support his argument he refers to the fact that at least PTI chief Imran Khan and JI Emir Sirajul Haq will also be missing from the moot.

He asserts that a joint statement to be issued after Zardari-Qadri meeting would serve as a base for the MPC declaration.

Explaining the objective of the MPC, a PAT official tells Dawn that the party has made the decision of protesting in the streets in the Model Town case and the parties wishing to lend their support for the cause are being invited for their opinion regarding the protest mode so that “a sense of ownership of the consequent decision may be inculcated among them”.

Meanwhile, Mr Wattoo has welcomed Mr Khan’s statement wherein the latter has promised to sit even with Mr Zardari for the victims of Model Town tragedy.

The PPP leader believes that the remarks will have a positive impact on the national politics.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2017