Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday raised several objections over the joint notification issued by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and other political parties at the end of PAT-led All Parties Conference (APC), saying that it rejected suggestions put forward by the party.
According to sources, the MQM-P had strong reservations over the issue of fixing responsibility on certain people without prior investigation. The sources said that the party objected over the fact that the Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanuallah were being completely held responsible for the Model Town tragedy.
If the Supreme Court was to constitute a Joint Investigation Team to bring the culprits to justice, then it would be appropriate to also mention the names of those responsible for the incident, the sources added.
According to the sources, the MQM-P leadership shared their reservation regarding taking of unnecessary names in the notification, saying that only the names of those people should have been revealed who were actually involved in the incident.
Earlier in the day, PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri addressed a press conference alongside Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira, where the 10-point agenda of APC was also read out to reporters.
The main demand of the APC included seeking the resignations of Shehbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah and others involved in the Model Town massacre by January 7. In case the demand was not met, the APC steering committee would announce a future course of action on January 8, with Qadri hinting towards sit-ins in Lahore and the rest of the country.
It merits mention here that the Punjab government released the Justice Najafi report (Model Town incident report) on December 5 following orders of the Lahore High Court. The report mentioned that police officials had tried to cover up the facts to conceal the identities of the people who gave them the orders to open fire on unarmed protestors.
