The federal government has filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against a Session Court’s order to lodge a First Information Report [FIR] of the Model Town incident.
The appeal was filed by Federal Minister for Information Pervez Rashid on Friday, which states that the verdict by the additional session judge is unconstitutional. The petition states that the session court registered the case without reviewing the legal provisions and therefore, took a one-sided decision.
Minhajul Quran International (MQI) Director Jawad Hamid, Justice of Peace and Faisal Town Police Station SHO have been made party in the petition.
LHC Chief Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik referred the petition to Justice Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah but Shah excused from hearing the case citing personal reasons. The petition was then forwarded to Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa.
Earlier, a session court of Lahore ordered police to register a case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and 19 others for the killing of Tehreek Minhajul Quran workers on June 17 in Model Town.
The court had ordered to file charges against the key accused including the nominated police officers.
Minhajul Quran International (MQI) Director Jawad Hamid had taken the plea before Additional Sessions Judge Lahore that Prime Minister Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, Railways Minister Saad Rafique, Punjab former law minister Rana Sanaullah, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Pervez Rasheed, principal secretary to Punjab CM Tauqeer Shah, Punjab Police IG, Lahore former CCPO Shafeeq Gujjar and SSP Rana Abdul Jabbar were among the 21 people who allegedly ordered Punjab Police to murder 12 people in Model Town.
The MQI petition maintained that instead of registering the FIR on MQI’s behalf, police registered the FIR on its own, which is unconstitutional. The petition said that the police did not adopt the correct legal course and therefore all these people were also named among the accused.
The Faisal Town Police Station investigating officer told the court that the FIR of the case had already been registered and investigations are underway. He said that another FIR of the incident could not be registered.
After listening to the arguments of both sides, the court had ordered the registration of the FIR against all the people named in the party’s petition.