LAHORE -  Pakistan Awami Tehreek is expected to start what it calls the final phase of its Qisas Movement to get justice for the Model Town victims in the second week of January.

As the PAT leadership is considering all legal implications and options, it has broadened the sphere of political consultations. The PAT wants complete preparation prior to launching the protest movement.

“We will call an all-party conference before the start of our final phase of Qisas (blood for blood) Movement,” PAT Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur told The Nation yesterday.

Although he was tight-lipped in predicting any date of the PAT’s anticipated protest campaign, the to-do list he shared with this scribe clearly indicates Dr Tahirul Qadri may take another two to three weeks to start the agitation. As Pir of Sial Sharif Hameedudin Sialvi has already announced a rally in Lahore on Rana Sana’s resignation on the Khatm-e-Nabuwat issue on January 4, the PAT wants to avoid the agitation in the first week of January.

“We are waiting for the Lahore High Court orders on our three writ petitions. The decisions are likely to come in a week,” he said.

The PAT is seeking re-investigation into the Model Town case, original copy of the Justice Ali Baqar Najfi inquiry report to compare it with the certified copy and complete publication of the report. Gandapur claimed the Punjab government made only one-tenth portion of the report public.

The Model Town tragedy occurred on June 17, 2014, which claimed the lives of 14 PAT workers. Dr Qadri says disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanullah are directly involved in the incident.

He demands resignations of the Punjab CM and the law minister and warns to start a massive campaign against both of them after the publication of the inquiry report on the high court orders.

Gandapur said the PAT movement will be countrywide and the final nail in the coffin of the killers involved in the worst crime against humanity. “Crime and mandate are not inter-related. The time has come for the Sharifs to surrender,” he asserted.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Pak Sarzameen Party chief Mustafa Kamal and Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen chief Raja Nasir Abbas have already assured Dr Qadri of supporting the PAT movement. A delegation of MQM-Pakistan, led by its chairman Dr Farooq Sattar, is expected to meet him today.

During the last two weeks, the PAT chairman held meetings with lawyers, traders, members of civil society, former president and prime minister of Azad Kashmir and other political figures, shared his mind with them and sought their support on the issue. When asked what kind of support the PAT is seeking from different opposition parties for its protest move, Gandapur said they are required to give it every kind of support.

When asked if his party expects any kind of involvement from the establishment, he said why the PAT will call the army and drag a state institution into the Model Town issue.

“Yes, Dr Qadri had sought the help of former army chief Raheel Sharif because he had promised the families of Model Town martyrs will get justice, but he has not stood by his word,” the PAT secretary general lamented.

He said democracy will have no future in the country if justice was provided to the victims of the Model Town incident.