LAHORE: The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday admitted a petition seeking the formation of a new joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the Model Town carnage incident for hearing on November 19.
The petition will be heard by a two-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar.
The CJP on October 6 had taken notice of the petition filed by Bisma Amjad, daughter of martyred Tanzila Amjad who was among those who lost their lives in the Model Town firing incident.
The apex court issued notices to those made respondents by the petitioner in the case, including former premier Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif.
A copy of the court notice has also been sent to Hamza Shehbaz, Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Khawaja Asif, Abid Sher Ali, Pervez Rasheed, Daniyal Aziz and others nominated in the petition.
The Model Town incident that had taken outside Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s residence on June 17, 2014, had killed at least 14 people including women and injured around 100 as a result of police action.
Model Town report
On December 5, the Punjab government released the Model Town inquiry tribunal report after three years following a Lahore High Court (LHC) directive to make it available for public consumption.
The report, prepared by Justice Baqir Najfi commission, had blamed the provincial government, including Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, and police for the 2014 incident in which 14 supporters of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were killed.
As per Justice Najafi’s account, the police did its best to cover up facts regarding who gave orders to open fire on protesters.
“The facts and circumstances of the bloodbath clearly show that the police officers actively participated in the massacre,” stated the report.
The report also criticised members of the Punjab police for their complicity in the incident.
“…no police official from top to bottom, whether actively participated in the operation or not, did utter a single word about the person under whose command the police resorted to firing upon the PAT workers.”
Moreover, the report expressed disappointment over the fact that the Punjab government did not empower the tribunal under Section 11 of the Punjab Tribunals Ordinance, 1959.
