"It is a good omen that operation has been started against terrorists in the South of Punjab and the scope of this operation should be extended to the whole of the province and we support it," said Dr Tahirul Qadri, the Chairman of the Pakistan Awami Thereek, in his address to the party's central core committee on Monday.
He spoke by video-link from Canada. He said the operation should be started long ago before these terrorists could have carried out their activities in the cities of the province and the Gulshan-e-Iqbal incident could have been averted. "Is it necessary that hundreds of civilians are killed in acts of terrorism and suicide bombings before any action is taken and operations launched? Again the authorities are waiting that such incidents take place in other parts of the province before they act and take action in the Central and Eastern Punjab," he posed the question. Dr Qadri also asked the army chief never to limit this operation in the South Punjab till the arrest of those responsible for the killings in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal bombing. He then talked about his party holding an All Parties Conference to chalk out its strategy and line of action for justice for the Model Town incident. But he said his party had postponed it because of the Lahore incident and would announce a new date soon. Core Committee members who attended the meeting were Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Mohammed Saeed, Khawaja Aamir Fareed Korrija, Fayyaz Warraich, Mohammed Mushtaq Lailla, Basharat Jaspal, Noor Ullah Sadiquie and Sajid Bhatti.