LAHORE: The Punjab government on May 23 challenged the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict in connection with the suspension of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in Model Town carnage case before the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan.
The verdict was challenged by the Punjab advocate general on the approval of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.
Earlier in April, the LHC had ordered the new JIT to halt the probe and annulled the notification of its constitution regarding the Model Town incident.
“A stance was taken in the petition that LHC has violated the SC’s decision by preventing JIT from work. JIT which has been investigating under the law can’t be stopped by LHC,” it stated.
It has been requested in the petition that SC dismisses the LHC’s order regarding JIT suspension.
The new JIT was constituted on January 3 this year for a fresh probe into the 2014 Model Town carnage, following a notification issued by the Punjab chief secretary.
On March 22, LHC had dissolved the JIT constituted to investigate the 2014 Model Town incident afresh.
On June 17, 2014, Punjab police went to remove the barriers placed outside PAT Chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s residence and MQI Secretariat in Model Town. The MQI workers resisted the move which led to a deadly clash leaving 14 workers dead and dozens injured.
