Daily Times

In a telephonic exchange, Prime Minister Imran Khan assured Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri of justice for those who lost their lives in the Model Town shooting incident on Thursday.

The call came in the wake of the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict that dismissed revision pleas filed by PAT, challenging a trial court’s decision regarding the 2014 incident.

In the appeal, the PAT had challenged the decision of the Anti-Terrorism Court to not summon 12 people (all former or current parliamentarians of the PML-N) nominated in the private complaint. These included former premier Nawaz Sharif, former Punjab Chief Minister (now Opposition Leader in the National Assembly) Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Assembly opposition leader Hamza Shahbaz, former law minister Rana Sanaullah, former railways minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq, former defence minister (current MNA) Khwaja Asif, former information minister Pervez Rashid, former state minister Abid Sher Ali, former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, then personal secretary to chief minister Syed Tauqir Shah, former home secretary Azam Suleman and then Lahore Commissioner Rashid Mahmood Langrial.

During the phone calls, the Prime Minister told his PAT ally that disposal of the pending cases pertaining to the Model Town incident was among his government’s first priorities. He said that an investigation would be conducted in the matter by a team to be led by the Punjab chief minister himself. The people involved need to be dealt with irrespective of their standings, the PM was quoted as having said.

The two leaders share a history of agitation politics that goes back to the sit-ins they staged against the PML-N government in the federal capital just a few months after government formation.

Published in Daily Times, September 28^th 2018.