Imran says will make sure Sharifs end up in Adiyala Jail for Model Town killings

• PTI chief reiterates support for Tahirul Qadri in Jaranwala rally
• Calls Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah a villain of Punjabi movies
• Criticises United Nations for failing to safeguard rights of Palestinian people

JARANWALA: Accusing the Sharif brothers of deaths of 14 people in a Lahore incident of 2014, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan said Friday his party will support Pakistan Awami Tehreek head Tahirul Qadri until it gets justice in the Model Town incident.

“We will make sure they end up in Adiyala Jail,” Khan said while addressing a party rally in Jaranwala city of Faisalabad district.

“Such incidents will increase if silence is maintained so I will not rest until these people are put behind the bars,” he said.

Khan further said that Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah should be tried for murder as he was the one who had ordered the police to open fire when 14 sympathisers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were killed in Model Town.

“He [Sanaullah] also looks like a murderer, and can easily get cast as a villain in a Punjabi movie,” he went on to say.

The PTI chief reiterated support for Tahirul Qadri in its pursuit of “justice” in light of the recently made public Model Town inquiry tribunal report.

Criticising the ideology of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Khan said the party’s vision was to come in power and steal from the poor in the name of development projects. (But) the nation has woken up and they have understood the ideology of the PML-N, he added.

Condemning the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Khan came down hard on the United Nations for failing to safeguard the rights of the Palestinian people.

“Israel has been trying to divide the Muslim world on sectarian lines. However, the recent decision by President Donald Trump and Israel will have the opposite effect, and the whole Muslim world will be united against this decision,” he said.

According to police officials, more than 12,500 policemen were deployed for security of the venue of the PTI rally.

Recently, the Punjab government, at the behest of the Lahore High Court, made the report for the Model Town incident public on December 5. The report was drafted by Justice Baqir Najfi and termed the 2014 tragedy in Lahore’s Model Town as the “most unfortunate incident” in the country’s history.

At least 14 people were killed and 100 others injured in the police action against PAT workers during an ‘anti-encroachment operation’ in June 2014.

Following the report being made public, the Pakistan People’s Party also threw its weight behind the PAT, demanding Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif’s resignation.

Meanwhile, the PTI has recently intensified its political activities and started holding rallied across Pakistan to garner support for the 2018 general elections.