Families of victims gather to seek justice

14 PAT activists were killed in clashes with police in June 2014

LAHORE: Shazia Murtaza’s life was cut short when she was still celebrating the impending birth of her first child. Murtaza was among 14 persons killed in Model Town a few years ago.

“My heart breaks whenever I see a newborn in a woman’s arms as it reminds me of my dear friend Shazia,” said Kulsoom Tufail.

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She was talking to The Express Tribune on Wednesday at a sit in organised by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) on Mall Road. Murtaza was seven-months pregnant when she was killed. She was looking forward to welcome her child as it would have been her first child after eight years of marriage, said Tufail. “She was very careful since she had conceived the child but she did not know that something like this could happen.”

Murtaza and her cousin Tanzeela Amjad were killed in Model Town. Tufail said that a few days before the Model Town tragedy took place, she was talking to her friends about decorating the room of her newest family member.



Tufail, a PAT worker, said, “We are more than friends. We were like sisters and companions in good times and bad.” Talking to The Express Tribune Bisma, a college student, said she sorely missed her mother on her birthday. “My mother had promised a few days before her death that she will celebrate my upcoming birthday with me, but she never returned home.”



Bisma said that before her mother left for the PAT office, she assured her son Ali that she would be back home soon and they would have fun in the evening. “I am participating in the sit-in to seek justice for the 14 people that lost their lives in Model Town,” said Bisma.

On June 17, 2014, 14 PAT activists were killed during a clash between PAT protesters and policemen in Lahore after several area residents complained about the barriers placed outside Qadri’s house in Model Town. At least 80 others were injured in the clashes that broke out when police went to the party's headquarters in Model Town to remove the barricades and PAT workers tried to stop them.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2017.