Daily Times

The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday issued notices to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif along with 137 others including parliamentarians and police officials nominated in a case lodged by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) regarding 2014 murders in Model Town incident.

The bench will hear the application tomorrow (Monday) to decide a legal point whether a new Joint Investigation Team could be formed at this stage of the case.

Bisma Amjad, an aggrieved woman of the incident, moved an application to the chief justice requesting to constitute a new JIT to probe into the killings of innocent workers of PAT/Idara Minhajul Quran.

The other parliamentarians and bureaucrats nominated as accused by the PAT include Punjab opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz, former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar, former defence minister Khawaja Asif, former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, former information minister Pervez Rashid, former state minister Abid Sher Ali, Punjab former law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, then personal secretary to chief minister Syed Tauqir Shah, former home minister Azam Suleman and former Lahore commissioner Rashid Mahmood Langrial.

The alleged accused police officers include then inspector general Punjab police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera, former deputy inspector general operations Lahore Rana Abdul Jabbar and former superintendent of police security Salman Ali Khan.

Earlier on September 26, a full bench of the Lahore High Court with a majority decision of two to one, had dismissed two criminal revision appeals challenging a trial court’s decision on a private complaint by PAT to the extent of non-summoning of 12 accused including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders and bureaucrats.

A total of 14 persons were killed and over 100 injured during an “anti-encroachment” operation outside the Model Town residence of PAT Chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on June 17, 2014.

On March 3, 2016, PAT and Minhajul Quran top persons had filed a private complaint seeking trial of former PM Nawaz Sharif, former Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif, federal ministers Saad Rafique and Khawaja Asif and others accusing them of the murder of innocent PAT workers in 2014.

The trial court had partially accepted PAT’s plea and summoned former IGP Ahmed Sukhera and others. The court had dismissed PAT’s plea seeking trial of the former PM, former CM, Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah and eight other Members of the National Assembly.

The inquiry report, prepared by Justice Baqir Najfi commission, said that police tried to cover up the facts regarding who gave orders to open fire on protesters.

It adds that no legal opinion was sought from the Punjab advocate general prior to the start of the operation.

The commission, in its report, also stated that on the ground, the standoff continued the whole night, resulting in minor injuries to police constables as well as PAT workers.

The commission observed, “The level of cooperation in digging out the truth is that no police official from top to bottom, whether actively participated in the operation or not, did utter a single word about the person under whose command the police resorted to firing upon the PAT workers.”

Further, in its conclusion, the commission said, “It is shocking to note that everyone has deliberately but unsuccessfully tried to cover each other from possible adverse legal effects.”

Published in Daily Times, November 18^th 2018.