New JIT formed to probe Model Town tragedy

PAT president says his party will not take part in the inquiry

LAHORE: The Punjab government on Tuesday formed a new joint investigation team (JIT) to probe into the June 17 Model Town tragedy, in which 14 Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers were killed and 90 were in injured in clashes with police. However, the PAT has rejected the JIT.

The new five-member JIT will be headed by the CCPO Quetta  Abdul Razzaq Cheema, AIG Discipline at CPO SSP Shehzad Akbar, DSP CIA Khalid Abubakar and one official each from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB).

An FIR of the incident was lodged by police against the PAT activists some after the incident. However, another report on the complaint of PAT was lodged two months after the incident, naming Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, MNA Hamza Shahbaz, and 14 other high profile leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Last week, the Punjab government formed a new JIT under CCPO Quetta Abdur Razzaq Cheema after negotiations with the PAT. However, the PAT has rejected the new JIT. The PAT president Raheeq Abbasi told The Express Tribune that his party will not take part in the new JIT’s inquiry.

“The government agreed that the JIT head should be one who is trusted by the PAT,” he said, adding that they had informed the government they would not trust any officer from the Punjab police.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2014.