An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday dismissed the plea of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) seeking the trial of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and ten others for the people shot dead in Model Town.
The order was passed by ATC judge Chaudhary Muhammad Azam over a private complaint moved by the PAT over the killing of 14 people on June 17, 2014.
The court dismissed the plea regarding the first 12 names included in the list of 139 and held that the court could not try anyone without any solid evidence. However, it said that the court would send all 127 others to trial.
The first 12 named in the list were Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, MNA Hamza Shehbaz, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, former information minister Pervez Rashid, State Minister Abid Sher Ali, Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan, then personal secretary to chief minister Syed Tauqir Shah, Home Secretary Maj (r) Azam Suleman, and the then Lahore commissioner Rashid Mahmood Langrial.
In his order, the judge allowed the trial of Punjab Inspector General Police (IGP) Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera, the then SSP (Operations) Rana Abdul Jabbar and 125 others.
56 witnesses recorded their statements and more than 10 videos were presented before the court during the arguments on maintainability which showed the whole incident as it took place inside and outside the Minhaj-ul-Quran Secretariat in Model Town.
The court ordered the accused to appear in person at the next hearing on February 17 and also ordered them to deposit surety bonds of rupees 500,000 each.
Despite the trial of the vast majority of those named by the PAT, its leadership and workers expressed dissatisfaction over the court orders. PAT workers and leadership present at the time of the court order gathered outside the ATC and staged a protest against the order. They blocked the road for all kinds of traffic near China Chowk and chanted slogans against PM Nawaz Sharif, CM Shahbaz, Rana Sanaullah, and others.
Advocate Ishtiaq, a lawyer of the PAT, while talking to Pakistan Today said that the party’s leadership and workers were not content with the court’s decision and would appeal to the Lahore High Court.
PAT leadership in a statement released late on Tuesday said that the court hadn’t summoned any of the people who were the actually accused of killing 14 and injuring more than 100 innocent people in Model Town.
The statement alleged that Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, and Rana Sanaullah were the real culprits behind the Model Town tragedy.