MQI leader Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said he has left politics but did not leave chasing the perpetrators of the Model Town massacre. He said the struggle for justice is part of our faith. He said we would neither leave chasing them in this world nor in the hereafter. He said the equality before the law and the principle of an eye for eye held sway in the state of Madina. He said the state supported the perpetrators instead of siding with the children orphaned in the Model town massacre. He said those who perpetrated the tragedy continue to remain at large, whereas 107 workers who protested the oppression were booked on anti-terrorism charges and sentenced to five to seven years in jails. He said the law has big eyes and springs into action by looking at the faces of the poor and the rich.
Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri made these remarks while talking to lawyers who briefed him on the progress of the court cases. The legal team informed him about the status of pending appeals before the High Court and the Supreme Court as well as the progress on the private complaint that is being heard in an anti-terrorism court in Lahore.
Dr Qadri said those who were martyred and injured in Model Town carnage were not workers but his own sons and daughters and he has never lost their sight. He said every moment of the last five years was spent in the struggle of seeking justice. He said the fees of lawyers and other expenditure on the court cases run into millions, not lacs. He said prosecution and investigation branches supported the oppressors instead of the oppressed. He made it clear that in order to put the process of justice back on track, a fresh investigation into Model Town case is a must and we are fighting a legal battle for this purpose. He said it is because of his direct supervision and oversight that the case is alive today.
Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri revealed that the killers made several attempts for seeking pardon and reconciliation, and even got the common friends to speak on their behalf but his only answer was that if those killed were his real sons, he would have had the power to pardon but in case of Model Town, they are his spiritual sons and daughters and he does not have any power or right to forgive the killers. He said it is the court of law that would pass the verdict. He stated categorically that the blood of the martyrs is a debt on him as well as the entire Tehreek and this debt will be paid off in the form of Qisas.
Dr Qadri said as long as the cases were not heard by the courts, we were protesting. The Supreme Court ordered us to abandon protest and become part of the legal process and since then the whole attention continues to be focused on the legal process. He said now that the cases are in the courts, who should we protest against?
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