The Chairman of Pakistan Awami Tehreek Dr Tahirul Qadri has formed a nine-member committee to be headed by PAT President Dr Raheeq Ahmed Abbasi for contesting the Local Bodies elections in the 42 cantonments of the country. This was disclosed in the statement issued here on Monday by PAT media cell Lahore.
According to media cell the committee will not only decide who will be = contested but will also meet and co-ordinate with their political and religious parties and will seek or offer its support as it may be required. The committee has sent out letters to all the provincial presidents and secretaries seeking their advice and recommendations for the aspiring candidates. These presidents and secretaries have also been instructed to send the applications of the aspirants to the PAT central secretariat by March 27.
The other members of the committee are Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Basharat Jaspal, Sheikh Zahid Fayyaz, Fayyaz Warraich, Sajid Bhatti, Raazia Naveed, Shoaib Tahir, Noorullah Siddique and Irfan Yousaf. Apart from this four provincial committees have also been set up.
The PAT chairman has instructed that whenever elections will be held the local leadership of PAT must form committees and after consultations the names of the candidates should be announced. He said like-minded parties must be contacted and mutual candidates must be bought in the field.
In a telephonic conversation with Raheeq Abbasi the PAT Chairman said that the credit for the holding of these elections goes to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He said if the Supreme Court had relied on the government for holding of these elections then it would have become a dream and these elections would never have been held. He said it is the desire of PAT to see the devolution of power and resources and for these purposes the PAT will participate with full force in these elections. He urged the PAT leadership to ensure that they play a constructive role and for that they must form a strategy and see that strong candidates are filed.