PAT to participate in PTI’s Islamabad sit-in

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) will participate in the protest called by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Islamabad, after the heads of two parties reached an 'accord' on Monday.

According to details, PTI chairman Imran Khan telephoned Tahirul Qadri and requested him to extend his party's support for the Islamabad sit-in.

Qadri said that he has asked his party to join PTI in the Islamabad protest, adding that the decision for him to participate is yet to be made. "We stand with Imran Khan in the war against corruption," the PAT chief asserted.

Geo News has learnt that Qadri was earlier displeased with Khan and had informed Sheikh Rasheed of it. The PAT chief reportedly laid the condition for Imran to himself approach him, if the latter wanted his support.

The AML chief reportedly mediated in ending the deadlock and rekindling the lost affection between the two sides.

Tahirul Qadri agreed to extend his support to PTI for the Islamabad lockdown.

PTI has given a call for a massive protest in Islamabad, in a showdown aimed at forcing PM Nawaz to step down and present himself for accountability in the wake of Panama Papers disclosures.

PAT and PTI have also joined hands in the past to stage a similar protest in Islamabad some two years ago. The protest that continued for over four months paralysed the federal capital and was marred by attacks on the Parliament House and offices of the state TV among other incidents.

The PAT chief, however, had called off the 2014 sit-in amid reports of backdoor settlement with the government.

PTI stood its ground despite fading public support, but eventually ended the sit-in after 126 days in the wake of a gruesome attack on Peshawar's Army Public School on December 16, 2014.