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Journalism of Courage
ISLAMABAD, JULY 29: Turning the heat on the Nawaz Sharif government for its debacle in Kargil, thousands of protesters marched through Rawalpindi demanding the ouster of the prime minister in the second such mass rally within three days.
Chanting slogans of “Go, Nawaz Sharif Go", the protestors on Wednesday, termed Sharif as a “traitor” in the Kargil fiasco and demanded his “immediate removal and trial”.
The rally, organized by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) of Allama Tahirul Qadri, was also joined by followers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) of cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan and Tanzeemul Ikhwan.
Addressing the over 20,000 crowd, PAT chairman Qadri said a grand alliance with some other parties including Imran Khan’s PTI would be formed shortly and declared that they would launch a countrywide agitation to unseat the government.
Qadri termed the rally as `a huge success and a virtual no confidence’ against the government and claimed that people had realised that Sharif `bargained’ in withdrawing the so-called mujahedeens from Kargil.
This was the second major public rally against the two-and-a-half-year old government within three days. More such protest rallies are planned this weekend and next week.
Some PTI leaders told the protesters they would hold another such rally on Saturday in the Punjab town of Chiniot which will be addressed by Imran Khan.
Qadri slammed Sharif for signing the Washington declaration, which led to the withdrawal of Pak-backed intruders from Kargil, saying “all this was done because the government had failed to improve Pakistan’s economy.”
Accusing the government of being “unable to bear the external pressure” on Kargil, he said US President Bill Clinton had several times `categorically clarified’ that Washington had no plans to mediate on the Kashmir issue.
On Sunday, the hard-line religious party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) also held a massive public meeting in Lahore demanding the immediate removal of Nawaz Sharif.
