Model Town tragedy: LHC upholds FIR order against PM, 20 others

Dismisses petitions of four ministers against sessions court order.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday upheld a sessions court decision and directed the police to register a murder case against the prime minister, Punjab’s chief minister and 19 other officials in connection with the killing of over a dozen Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers outside the Central Secretariat of Minhajul Quran International at Lahore’s Model Town on June 17.

The court dismissed petitions of four federal ministers belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) against the August 16 judgment of an additional district and sessions judge on a petition filed by Jawad Hamid, administration director of the Minhajul Quran Secretariat.

The petitioner had requested the court order registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against 21 officials – including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.

In a short order, Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa of the LHC observed that the petitioners failed to establish their case. However, Justice Bajwa directed the police to complete investigations before arresting any accused nominated in the application.

Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali had filed the petitions against the sessions court order.

During the hearing, Minhajul Quran’s counsel Mansoorur Rehman Afridi claimed that the police had deliberately ignored evidence and statements of eyewitnesses and lodged a one-sided FIR on the complaint of a police official. He said the FIR registered by the police had no value in the eyes of law.

The head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), Additional IG Arif Mushtaq, also appeared and submitted a report to the judge in his chamber. The petitioner’s counsel, Azam Nazir Tarar, argued that Minhajul Quran and PAT leaders, including Dr Tahirul Qadri, expressed distrust over the police and didn’t join investigation into the incident. Nobody turned up on behalf of the Minhajul Quran or PAT, despite several invitations by the police and a JIT made by the government for an impartial investigation into the Model Town tragedy.

The petition filed by the Minhajul Quran before the sessions court was politically motivated, Tarar said, adding that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and others named as suspects in the application had no link with the incident. He also argued that an ordinance whereby Sub-section 6 was added to  Section 22-A and 22-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure had lapsed and the sessions court no longer enjoyed the power to order registration of an FIR.

Similarly, Punjab’s Advocate General Hanif Khatana argued that the sessions court had passed the impugned order without viewing the investigation reports of the JIT and police. He also said that the petition filed by the Minhajul Quran Secretariat was politically motivated and based on misconception. The judge, however, dismissed these petitions.

Meanwhile, Justice Bajwa also dismissed a petition, filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Zubair Niazi, demanding the implementation of the sessions court’s order. The judge observed that the petitioner was not the aggrieved party in the case.

The BBC quoted the legal team of the Minhajul Quran as saying that they would obtain attested copies of the court order and take them to the Faisal Town police station and ask them to register the FIR. According to legal experts, action could be taken under the Police Order against the police if they refuse to lodge the case. And they could face up to three years in jail.

The counsel for Minhajul Quran, Mansoor Afridi, told journalists outside the court that the law prevailed and the culprits of the Model Town killings would be broaught to justice. “The police have to implement the court order,” he added. “There is no justification for seeking legal opinion after the Lahore High Court decision.”

On the other hand, sources told Daily Express that soon after the LHC announced its ruling PML-N leaders joined their heads in Islamabad and Lahore to discuss the legal, constitutional and technical aspects of the order. After these brainstorming sessions, the federal ministers decided to file an intra-court appeal against the decision.

Copy of the LHC order has been obtained by our correspondent Asad Kharal and can be viewed below:









Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2014.