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  • PAT Chief extends deadline for few hours after meeting with ministers

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    Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri. Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri.

    Following talks with Finance Ministers Ishaq Dar and Zahid Hamid in a bid to resolve the prevailing political stalemate with respect to issues concerning the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Dr Tahurl Qadri on Wednesday night said he will make a decisive announcement later tonight.

    Speaking to a charged crowd here at Constitution Avenue, a jubilant and confident looking PAT chief said that the government team will return at around 9:30pm after consulting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. “We extended only two core demands to the government ministers, and they have asked for a couple of hours for getting the premier’s consent,” he said.

    The anti-government cleric, who has been staging a protest sit-in with thousands of supporters for the last ten days to oust Premier Sharif’s government, announced that the Inqilab March would not be called off, however, the deadline can be extended by a few hours only to negotiate further on rest of the demands.

    Qadri vowed to make the government team announce the eventual outcome of the talks officially if the two demands are met. He said the negotiations have entered into a conclusive and decisive stage now and urged the masses to be a part of 'history', which he claimed was about to be made in the federal capital.

    The PAT earlier in the day had refused to withdraw from its 48-hour deadline to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) government.

    Speaking to the media, PAT leader Raheeq Abbasi had said that the party will decide for any future course of action after the deadline expires at 6pm.

    Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PMLQ) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain also went to meet PAT chief Tahirul Qadri in the latter's container parked in Islamabad's Red Zone. Shujaat went to meet Qadri along with two others whose names haven't been disclosed.

    The development comes as the 48-hour ultimatum that the firebrand Canada-based cleric gave to the government to meet his demands neared expiration. The move by PAT was expected especially after the judicial commission which was investigating the June 17 Model Town incident held the government responsible for it, saying the police acted on government orders which led to the bloodshed.