LAHORE: A larger bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday reserved its verdict on an appeal of the Punjab government challenging an earlier verdict that directed it to make the Model Town incident report public.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh, reserved the judgement after hearing final arguments from the counsel for the provincial government and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).
On September 21, a single bench comprising Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi had ordered the Punjab home secretary to make the Model Town report public while allowing a petition filed by heirs of Model Town incident victims.
Subsequently, the government filed an intra-court appeal against the verdict, requesting the court to set it aside.
Khawaja Harris, who represented the government, contended that the matter was sub-judice before a trial court and releasing the report at this moment will affect and jeopardize the trial. He further stated that the publication of the report would not only hinder trail of a sub-judice matter but also incite sectarian tensions among the masses.
He petitioned the court to strike down the earlier decision of the court to make the Model Town enquiry report public and that the verdict of the single bench to release the report should be declared null and void.
The PAT counsel Barrister Ali Zafar, however, argued that the report was a public document and should be declassified. He added the government was bound under the Right to Information Act to provide access to such information.
He pleaded with LHC to wave off the claims by Punjab government that the release of Justice Najafi report on the Model Town incident will jeopardise any person’s trail or obstruct the administration of justice and stated that the claims of the provincial government regarding the report obstructing justice were completely false.
Barrister Zafar further stated that according to various sections of the constitution in Pakistan and various United Nations (UN) conventions, the enquiry report’s contents could not be confined to one person and hence the report should be made public
Lahore courts have always been on NaaAhl’s payroll.So case closed. Najfi Report will never surface as Judiciary still have many Qayyums..
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