LAHORE: The corridors of power are shaking after the multi-party conference (MPC) deadline for protest and the Sharifs will soon be sent packing, says Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chief Tahirul Qadri.

Addressing the core committee that was constituted in connection with preparation for the protest movement to be launched on Jan 17, he said it was the time for the Sharifs’ ouster and “now it was up to them if they wanted to go voluntarily or be forced out”.

“In the last two decades, the entire opposition has got together for the first time and gave an ultimatum to the ruling elite. The credit for this assembly goes to the PAT. If this consensus can be saved, the ruling elite will soon be on its way out,” Qadri predicted, and announced: “Now, the core committee will meet daily till the launch of the movement to keep organisational momentum and refine the planning.”

The PAT has already convened a meeting of the central working committee of the MPC to finalise the consensus strategy. He said the consensus had already started paying dividends as the rulers were nervous and shaky.

He said if on the one hand a consensus judgment of five Supreme Court judges was questioned, ridiculed and declared a stuff for the dustbin of history and on the other murderers were protected by the system, then there was something wrong with that sort of democracy.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Punjab Bar Council led by its vice chairman met the PAT chief and assured him of lawyers’ full support during the protest movement. The lawyers said peaceful protest was right of every citizen and if the government decided to use force against the protesters, they would be the first line of defence for them.

If the government influenced the process and tried to delay the outcome of the cases, the lawyers would help PAT in getting speedy justice, they pledged.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2018