Pakistan Awami Tehreek President Sheikh Zahid Fayyaz and Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur have said that the government has no concern for the state, people and the armed forces; rather what it cares the most about is its political interest. They said that the national honour demanded that the day the news of killing of 23 FC personnel came, the Prime Minister would have ended dialogue and declared the launch of military operation against the terrorists. They said that the rulers made the nation hang their head in shame. PAT condemns this insensitivity and lack of conscience of the government.

PAT leaders said that the rulers were in love with politics which was source of filling their coffers with wealth. They said that PAT demanded of the armed forces to initiate military action against the terrorists because the people had been disappointed with the government on this count. They said that scourge of terrorism would be eliminated by military operation, not through talks. They said that the decision to launch military operation was not taken by the government, which was begging the terrorists for peace but by the armed forces and this decision enjoyed the backing and support of the entire nation.

Sheikh Zahid Fayyaz and Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said that PAT expressed its complete solidarity with the bereaved families of martyrs of the FC and the armed forces. They said that some of the martyred personnel were the only bread winners of their families. They said that PAT leader Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri had been talking about military operation since long, adding that accepting the correctness of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri’s message, the armed forces have taken a clear stand against this scourge of terrorism. Dr Qadri dubbed the entire talk process as eyewash, which was meant to hoodwink the people of Pakistan. He had stated categorically that dialogue was a farce and ‘its reality’ would be exposed in a month’s time. He held that the nation was being fooled in the name of talks.

PAT President and Secretary General made these remarks while addressing a joint press conference in the Lahore Press Club on Saturday. President of Sunni Ittehad Council Lahore Mufti Dr Muhammad Haseeb Qadri, Convener Sunni Tehreek Lahore Maulana Mujahid Abdur Rasool, Secretary General Tahaffuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat Mahaz Allama Muhammad Ali Naqshbandi, President of Minhaj-ul-Quran Ulama Council Allama Imdadullah Khan, and President of Sunni Ulama Council Mufti Mahboob Siddiqi were also present at the occasion. These religious leaders also supported the PAT’s point of view.

PAT leaders said that the fate of these talks was already sealed but the rulers wanted to use dialogue as a smokescreen to plan and ensure the sell-out of state-owned enterprises in the name of privatization. They said that on the hand were the state of Pakistan and the armed forces and there was a small group of people on the other side with whom dialogue was being conducted. They said that there was no way that the state could accept the demands of the Taliban. They said that the nation’s attention was distracted from the main issues through the talks ‘Tamasha’ and the national assets were being put on the loot sale. They said that state-owned entities were being sold and bought by those in power themselves through the Privatization Commission. They said that the Federal Minister for Finance manifestly stated the other day that 31 enterprises would be privatized in the first phase including the profit-making organizations.

PAT Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said that Article 247 of the Constitution authorized the federal government to extend the executive authority to the FATA region. He said that Article 256 barred any private organization/party from establishing a militant wing and declared such an act as ultra vires and unconstitutional. He said that if the Taliban could go to Qatar for talks with the US, why they could not come to Miran Shah to hold a dialogue with the government of Pakistan?