Pakistan Awami Tehrik chief rejects judicial commission

Says party will ensure impartial probe ‘after current govt is ousted’.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Awami Tehrik leader Dr Tahirul Qadri on Wednesday rejected the constitution of a judicial commission probing the violent clash between PAT members and the police in Lahore on Tuesday, saying the party would not join any judicial or police inquiry. Dr Qadri claimed that the death toll of PAT activists now stands at 11 since Tuesday. The party leader condemned the attack on MQM MNA Tahira Asif on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference through video link from Canada, the party chief said that PAT would not rely on an FIR registered by the police but would lodge an application themselves and ensure an impartial investigation after the current government is ousted. He added that during the PML-N government’s tenure, there could be no independence for a judicial commission.

Dr Qadri accused the government of trying to implicate PAT workers in the clash, showing police officials with ‘fake bullet injuries’ and altering the medico-legal certificates of police officials. Additionally, he said that if any weapons were found at the PAT secretariat, the police should produce such confiscated weapons before the media. Dr Qadri said he never signed off on the provision of arms to party workers or PAT student wings.

The party leader said the barriers erected around the secretariat building were set up by the police on the orders of the Lahore High Court four years ago. If the police objected to the barriers, they should have resolved the issue through dialogue, Dr Qadri said. If there were any suspicions against the party, the secretariat could have been searched through a request, he added. “The government cannot intimidate PAT activists by shooting them,” he said.

Dr Qadri said that the demotion of the CCPO, DIG and SP to the rank of OSD did not resolve the issue and accused the chief minister of trying to ‘dodge’ responsibility. He accused the provincial government of tampering with the hospital records of 83 injured PAT activists, claiming that more than 100 people received bullet wounds during Tuesday’s clash. He said that more than 200 party workers were missing and other injured workers had been moved by the police to undisclosed locations. Dr Qadri alleged that the police are using bribery and scare tactics to eyewitnesses in order to record statements in their favour. “The police are making preparations to appear innocent before the judicial commission,” he said. “The report will camouflage terrorism and no religious party should demand an early release of the commission’s report.”

Judicial Commission

A one-man judicial tribunal formed to probe Tuesday’s incident at the Minhajul Quran Secretariat in Lahore’s Model Town commenced work on Wednesday. District and sessions judge and staff officer to the Lahore High Court Chief Justice Jawadul Hassan has been appointed as registrar of the tribunal comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi. Other officers of the tribunal include Jamshed Akhtar Shaheen, Muhammad Din, Samuel Javed, Ghulam Yasin, Shahzad Khalid and Javed Iqbal.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2014.