LAHORE-
Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) request to become a party in an appeal challenging a sessions court ruling calling for the registration of an FIR against 21 people, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership, for their involvement in the Model Town Incident, a private news channel reported.
On August 16, an additional district and sessions court directed the police to register an FIR against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and 18 others, including politicians and police officials, on muder charges for killing of 14 Pakistan Awami Tehreek activists (PAT) on June 17 in Model Town.
Four federal ministers , Khawaja Asif, Pervaiz Rasheed, Saad Rafique and Abid Sher Ali had filed an appeal against the sessions court order in LHC.
PTI’s counsel Zubair Khan Niazi filed a request in the court to become a party to the appeal. The court, however, dismissed the appeal stating that PTI was not an aggrieved group and hence had no cause to become party in the case.
PTI’s Zubair Khan Niazi put forward a request today, asking that the court’s order be implemented. However, the LHC dismissed his request, stating that PTI was not an affected group in this incident and hence had no reason to become a party in this case.
On June 17, at least 14 PAT workers were killed and dozens of others injured in violent clashes between party activists and policemen in Lahore. The confrontation had started when a 15-member police team had tried to remove barriers in front of PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s house and the Minhaj International Secretariat.
