Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Tuesday formed a five-member larger bench to decide whether a new joint investigation team (JIT) could be set up in the Model Town case.

Last month, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had announced constituting a larger bench on a petition of Bisma Amjad, a woman affected by the incident, requesting the court to constitute a new JIT to probe the Model Town tragedy.

The five-member bench comprises Justice Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel.

Meanwhile, notices have been issued to 146 individuals, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shahbaz, PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah, former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar, former foreign minister Khawaja Asif on behalf of the apex court.

The larger bench will begin hearing the case from today.

On June 17, 2014, 14 people were killed and 100 others injured after police launched an assault on PAT supporters gathered outside the residence of Tahirul Qadri in Model Town, Lahore.

The Punjab government, at the behest of the Lahore High Court, had made the report of the Model Town incident public on December 5, 2017.

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 added 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, December 5^th 2018.