Daily Times

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday barred members of the new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from probing the Model Town carnage case until April 30.

The court also ordered the Punjab government to submit a reply in the case within 15 days.

Previously, Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar had appeared before the court for the hearing of a contempt of court notice issued to then advocate general of Punjab Ahmad Awais.

The CM told the court that Ahmad Awais had resigned as the attorney general, over which Justice Qasim Khan said that the AG was a province’s higher official.

On March 22, LHC had dissolved the JIT constituted to investigate the 2014 Model Town incident afresh.

The new JIT was constituted on January 3 this year following a notification issued by the Punjab chief secretary.

The LHC ordered the new JIT to stop the probe and annulled the notification of its constitution. It sought a reply from the Punjab government regarding the new JIT.

On June 17, 2014, Punjab Police was ordered to remove the barriers placed outside Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s residence and Minhajul Quran Secretariat in Model Town. People at the secretariat resisted the move, which led to a deadly clash that left 14 workers dead and dozens injured.