PM Imran Khan, I am writing this to remind you of an old promise that you might have forgotten about after assuming the state’s affairs. It is regarding PAT workers’ – victims of Model Town massacre – right to get justice.
Model town massacre of PAT workers
It is regarding this very date of 17th June and the deadliest incident that happened in Model Town in 2014 when 14 unarmed political workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were shot in the broad daylight and more than 90 people were injured with gunshots and it included two women, young and old people.
Right on that day of 17th June 2014, you extended your support to the whole family of Minhaj-ul-Quran and PAT and ensured your commitment to fight against the perpetrators in pursuit of seeking justice.
Read more: Model Town Case: Inevitable need to reform system
You visited the premises of Minhaj-ul-Quran and reassured your words of support. You and PAT Patron-in-Chief Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri voyaged on the long march together and raised a joint voice for the victims of the Model Town massacre.
You rallied across Pakistan in your election campaign and replugged these commitments before the general public.
You once said that you won’t rest until the killers are hanged and in all those four years you also believed that justice for Model Town massacre was a matter of 30 days only. You visited Minhaj-ul-Quran Secretariat many times and didn’t move an inch in your support for the victims and affectees.
As PM Imran Khan quiet on Model town massacre
Mr. Prime Minister, unfortunately, that commitment, claim, those words and promises were only for those four years. It all changed with the onset of your premiership.
Now you seem to have forgotten that all; as you no more make a mention of that brutal bloodbath neither do you mention the bravery of PAT workers with which they fought and saved your life when you were left alone by your own people on the night of 31st August 2014 at Inqilab March.
6yrs since the Model Town Massacre, we urge the Pakistan government to no-longer stay silent.
Share this video and speak up with us.#SilenceOnMTcase @ImranKhanPTI @TahirUlQadri pic.twitter.com/RB6kwZmV0U
— Minhaj-ul-Quran UK (@MQIUK) June 15, 2020
I am curious to ask if that sudden change is a ‘Change of Heart’ or a ‘Change of Mind’? Either you no longer feel that sense of humanity and brotherhood with them or you have submitted to the reality that the system.
Dr. Qadri warned you about the flawed system; has it made you so powerless that you no longer have the capacity to speak your heart out? There doesn’t seem to be a third way to explain your silence.
Read more: Model Town Massacre: Will the victims ever get justice?
In either of the case, you brought great disappointment to all those like myself who voted for you. If compromise was what you have decided to opt for then how different are you? I question this silence which is threatening and alarming.
If cases like Model Town, which is an open reality to all, are being treated with this care, attention and criminal silence than what should one expect for the poor who either is so weak or doesn’t match in their steadfastness to the victims of Model Town massacre?
They voted for you with the hope that you will become their hope and support but if you are so helpless being the Prime Minister then there is only darkness at the end of the tunnel.
PAT workers disappointed in “Naya Pakistan”
With a heavy heart, as my heart bleeds for all those who attached hopes with you, I must tell you that you brought us disappointment when those involved in this carnage are being positioned on senior government posts under your nose.
The masterminds are set free to roam around while the victims have been imprisoned in your own government which you established in the name of justice.
What justice do you preach that allows the convicted criminal to go abroad on health bail for few weeks as you stand helpless – while he hangs out on the streets there showing us the ugly face of the system?
Read more: Model Town tragedy: Will new JIT be effective?
However, on the opposite imprisoned workers are kept chained while in hospitals. I feel that the killers feel more at ease in your ‘Naya Pakistan’ than before. The mafias you once threatened are now finding safe haven in your self styled ‘State of Medina’.
Mr. Imran Khan, with this reminder towards your forgotten promises, let me tell you one thing. If this ‘Naya Pakistan’ mantra was an eyewash, as we can clearly see that it is, Pakistan will never forgive you for you have wasted our time and diverted the youth from the basic cause of fighting against the system.
Your belief in changing the system seems to have failed. The system has paralyzed your capacity.
Its never too late to be right, Mr. Prime Minister as George Bernard rightly said “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience”.
Jaweria Waheed is a graduate in International Relations from Kinnaird College. She is a member of the Editorial Board for the magazine ‘Voice of Students’ and has been a blogger with media organizations ARY News & Dunya News, Pakistan. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.