LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), under the leadership of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, has reiterated its demand for the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan during the All Pakistan Lawyers Convention organized by the PAT on Thursday.
According to details, the lawyers’ convention of PAT held both Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah responsible for the Model Town incident of 2014, in which 14 people were killed and over a hundred got injured. The convention passed a unanimous resolution in this regard on the occasion.
The resolution stated that it had become evident following Justice Baqir Najafi’s judicial commission report that both Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah were responsible for the murders of 14 innocent people, adding that the lawyers’ convention was unanimously agreed in demanding the resignation of the two lawmakers.
It further asserted that Shahbaz Sharif had himself claimed that he would not wait for a minute in handing in his resignation if the Baqir Najafi report pointed fingers at him.
The report further demanded that all police officials and bureaucrats who planned, ordered and executed the Model Town operation should be sacked immediately and booked according to the law. Appealing to the maxim of the law being equal for everyone, the lawyers’ convention demanded for all culprits in the incident to be sent to jail, like any ordinary civilian would.
Moreover, the resolution demanded an independent and unbiased joint investigation team (JIT) on the pattern of the JIT that was formed to probe the Panama Papers case in order to reinvestigate the Model Town case. As per the resolution, a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or High Court must be deputed as the monitoring judge of this JIT.
Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, PAT Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur and advocate Azhar Siddique also addressed the convention, while a large number of lawyers including former Lahore High Court Bar Association president Pir Masood Chishti were also present on the occasion.
It has been learnt reliably that PAT, under Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri’s auspices, would participate in the coming elections with full force. Furthermore, it is expected that PAT would capitalize on the Model Town incident to gain support for itself, as well as, forming electoral alliances with other religious and political parties.
It is worth mentioning here that Lahore High Court Bar Association has also demanded justice for the Model Town victims at a recently held All Party’s Conference that was convened to discuss the current political situation of the country.
Meanwhile, multiple resolutions have already been submitted in the Punjab Assembly during last few days demanding the resignations of Rana Sanaullah and Shahbaz Sharif over the Model Town incident since the Justice Baqir Najafi report was made public.
