Rana Sana threatened to expose PM’s role in Model Town incident: report

TV talk show host says former Punjab law minister told aides Nawaz Sharif had told him to use force on PAT workers

A TV anchor on Thursday claimed that former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan had threatened to spill the beans on the Model Town killing incident if he were implicated in the case, saying that Sana had told some aides that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had asked him to deal with the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers with an iron hand during a police operation against ‘encroachments’ outside the Tehreek Minhajul Quran Secretariat on June 17.

The claim was made by political commentator and co-host of Channel 24’s DNA programme, Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain.

Arif Nizami, who hosts the show, said that Hussain was making a very bold claim.

The two senior journalists discussed the current political scenario in wake of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s continuing protests in Islamabad over alleged election rigging and also the widening gulf between PTI and its ally in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, Jamaat-e-Islami.

They also discussed reports of formation of a forward bloc in the Pakistan Muslim League led by senior leader Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa.

Arif Nizami said that several PML-N leaders were distressed by the party leadership’s monarchic style of governance, adding that Khosa had said in a recent interview that Nawaz Sharif had been further emboldened after the ending of Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s protest sit-in in Islamabad.

He said the Sharifs should review their attitude towards party leaders rather than bestowing all government offices to family members, which was the main cause of resentment in the party.