them. The government pushed through legislation to make Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif all-powerful and unaccountable. The watershed in this regard was passage of Shariat Bill on 8 August 1998. 17 political parties got together on the platform of Pakistan Awami Ittehad under the leadership of PAT chief Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri to ward off political victimization. Martyr of democracy, Shaheed Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party joined the political alliance as a leading party. The political forces initially converged on the agenda of 'Go Nawaz Go' but later on they issued 14-point Islamic Social Order on 18 March 1998 for establishment of Islamic welfare state. However, this political alliance could not last long and was disbanded in 1999. Elections 2002 PAT took part in the second general elections in 2002. Only PAT chief Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri was able to get elected to the National Assembly from NA-127 in Lahore. The PAT distributed party tickets among its workers belonging to poor and middle classes on the basis of competence and integrity but they could not win elections due to their inability to fulfill 'demands' of Pakistani politics. Resignation from National Assembly On 5 October 2004, PAT chief Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri resigned from his National Assembly seat in protest against Pervez Musharraf's wearing of two caps namely the Chief of Army Staff and the President of Pakistan, which was the first resignation in Pakistan's parliamentary history. The 85-page resignation statement issued by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri was presented in the National Assembly as a national document, which exposed the conspiracies and secret power play. Following his resignation, Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri gave his workers and chapters of his party the target of mass awareness campaign and settled abroad to resume his research work. On 29 November 2004, Qadri announced his resignation as a Member of the National Assembly. Explaining his resignation he cited the President's broken promises, political corruption and blackmailing, the undemocratic system, institutional inabilities, failures of accountability, the sabotage of National Assembly, global issues including Pakistan-US relations, international terrorism and US global domination, Israeli aggression, the Iraq war, Islamabad-Delhi relations including the Kashmir dispute and Pakistan-Afghanistan relations. His 41-page resignation statement is available online to read. Elections 2008 The General Council of Pakistan Awami Tehreek described general elections 2008 as lacking in fairness and transparency and suffering from pre-poll rigging. It thus decided to boycott the polls. In a January 2011 address to a meeting