LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders on Thursday faced embarrassment when the participants of the sit-in outside the Governor’s House did not allow them to join the protest for having “soft corner” for the Taliban.
A large number of people, including women and children, had camped outside the Governor’s House since 5pm on Wednesday under the umbrella of the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) and Imamia Students Organisation to protest against the killing of Shia pilgrims in Balochistan’s Mastung district.
The participants were determined to continue with the protest till stern action against militants involved in the attacks is not initiated.
The charged participants seemed to have drawn a line between those having soft corner for the extremists and the ones who are against them.
As no one from the PML-N or the Punjab government bothered to express solidarity with the participants of the sit-in, the PTI leaders – Ejaz Chaudhry and Andleep Abbas – visited them.
However, the protesters asked the PTI leaders that they should better leave as “we don’t need sympathy from those who support the Taliban.” A group of the participants tried to convince others to let the PTI leaders sit with them but to no avail.
The same situation did not arise when the PPP leaders – Jehangir Badr and Manzoor Wattoo – reached there. “Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had given a message for you! We will not surrender before terrorists,” Wattoo told the participants.
“We demand that the PML-N government bring all assailants to justice,” he said.
On the other hand, the MWM leaders said they would not end the protest in Lahore till the relatives of those killed in Quetta ended the sit-in there.
The MWM leaders - Allama Ahmad Iqbal Rizvi, Allama Imtiaz Kazmi, Allama Syed Jaffer Mousavi, Allama Syed Mubarak Ali Mousavi, Allama Syed Husain Najfi, Allama Husnain Arif and Syed Asad Abbas Naqvi – also addressed the protesters. They demanded that the government launch a “targeted military operation” in Quetta to hunt down the terrorists.
The motorists in the provincial capital faced great inconvenience because of more than 30-hour sit-in on The Mall.
The participants, especially elderly women and children, showed no sign of withdrawal despite cold weather.
“Soon after coming from school I had a lunch and then my father brought me here. He told me that we have come here to register protest against the killing of innocent people in Quetta,” Komail Raza, a grade-III student, told Dawn at the sit-in.
“I would attend my school tomorrow though I will go to bed late. I think my presence may force the rulers to arrest the killers of the innocent people,” Komail said.