SC gives ATC two weeks to conclude Model Town massacre trial

• Directs inclusion of Justice Najafi’s report in trial proceedings which will now be held on daily basis

• CJP asks prosecutor if there is any order regarding summoning of Nawaz Sharif and other political figures in ATC

LAHORE: The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday directed an anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Lahore to hear the pending cases related to the Model Town killings on a daily basis and conclude the trial of the accused within two weeks.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar ordered ATC Judge Aijaz Awan to hear the pending cases related to the Model Town incident on a daily basis and cancelled all of the ATC judge’s leaves.

The Punjab prosecutor general presented the record of both the cases and the prosecution to the court at the inception of hearing. The CJP inquired from the prosecutor general, “Is there any order regarding the summoning of Nawaz Sharif and other political figures in ATC?” The prosecutor general replied that the summon notices had not been issued due to lack of any evidence against them.

The trial has been pending before the ATC against police and civil administration officials. A private complaint filed by Idara Minhajul Quran, a sister organisation of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), is also pending adjudication before the trial court.

The CJP had on April 8, taken notice of the delay in the provision of justice to the victims of the 2014 Model Town incident and had directed the Punjab government to come up with a report, explaining the reasons behind the delay in dispensation of justice to the people affected by the incident.

He took notice of the matter on the request of the daughter of a woman killed in the incident, who complained that she still awaited justice despite the passage of four years.

JUSTICE NAJAFI WILL BE PART OF COURT RECORD:

The two-member bench of the apex court hearing the case in Lahore registry on Saturday further directed the trial court to make Justice Ali Baqar Najafi’s report of a judicial probe into the incident part of the trial proceedings.

The judges directed the Lahore High Court (LHC) to dispose of petitions with regard to the Model Town incident within two weeks.

Earlier on Thursday, the anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of Model Town incident indicted 116 suspects, including top police officials.

The accused, including Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rana Abdul Jabbar and Superintendent of Police Umer Riaz, were charge sheeted by the court.

On July 17, 2014, 14 people were killed and 100 others injured when the police opened fire to disperse protesting Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers during an anti-encroachment operation outside the residence of party chief Dr Tahirul Qadri.

Delineating the chronology of events, Justice Najafi had reported that then Punjab Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Rana Sanaullah seems to have already decided on June 16, 2014 that the PAT chief would not be allowed any opportunity to hold a long march from Rawalpindi to Lahore, as the latter planned to do on June 23, 2014.

This single-minded determination of the minister to thwart Qadri’s political objectives ended up influencing the police’s heavy-handed strategy in dealing with the situation, which resulted in the needless loss of lives the very next day, Justice Najafi argued in the report.

The commission maintained that it arrived at the conclusion after “putting all facts and circumstances in juxtapositions”.