Model Town tragedy: LHC asks govt to make inquiry report public
Punjab administration to file intra-court appeal
A file photo of policemen responding to Qadri supporters in Model Town. PHOTO: SHAFIQ MALIK
LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court ordered the Punjab government on Thursday to make public the report of an inquiry conducted by Justice Ali Baqar Najfi into the killing of 14 workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek in 2014 during an ‘anti-encroachment’ operation near Dr Tahirul Qadri’s home in Model Town.
“Since it is the outcome of judicial proceedings, it is a public document,” said the order issued by Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi on petitions filed by the victims’ families.
“Therefore, in the public interest,” the judge issued directives to make it public so that the legal heirs of the deceased, as well as the injured, may learn about the actual wrongdoers who were directly or indirectly involved in the gruesome violence.
Not happy with the court order, the Punjab government decided to challenge the verdict. The provincial advocate general will file an intra-court appeal before the LHC.
Model Town incident: LHC reserves verdict on plea to release inquiry report
The petitioners had contended that the police, under the garb of handling the law and order situation, on the instructions of the government had taken the action that lasted till midday on June 17, 2014. During the incident, 14 people were killed and about 85 others suffered firearm injuries when police opened fire allegedly to control violent people who had gathered at Idara Minhajul Quran, they said.
Barrister Ali Zafar, the counsel for the petitioners, argued that releasing the report was a matter of public interest and the government was bound under the law to give them the required information. He said it was a case of fundamental rights.
The lawyer said the judicial tribunal had been constituted to find out the facts and fix responsibility on the perpetrators, and the chief justice had appointed Justice Najfi to hold the inquiry.
He said the report was in the custody of the government but despite the lapse of three years, it had been refusing to make it public.
He said the heirs of the deceased had the right under Article 9-A of the Constitution, the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013 and Qanoon-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 to obtain a copy of the report.
Shujaat says Sharifs will pay for Model Town tragedy
Additional Advocate General Shan Gull argued that the report was only for the benefit of the government and it was not obliged to disclose it.
He said six constitutional pleas filed on the same subject were pending before a full bench and one writ petition had been dismissed in 2016.
He said the petitioners could not seek the publication of the inquiry report because it was not a public document and judicial commissions were constituted after such incidents to seek guidance to avert their recurrence.
The government lawyer also pointed out that the petitioners had boycotted the tribunal’s proceedings at one stage.
Model Town tragedy: Court spares police chief from ATC appearance
“If the inquiry report is made public, it might prejudice public order, which is exclusively within the domain of the government to tackle, hence the petition be dismissed,” he said.
However, the judge observed that the record of the other six petitions mentioned by the law officer reflected that none of them had been filed by any legal heir of the deceased or injured. A petition by Jawwad Hamid, which was dismissed by a full bench, as pointed out by the law officer, had been filed on different grounds, he said.
PAT had filed a complaint before an anti-terrorism court against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, some federal ministers and police and administration officials.
The ATC gave a clean chit to 12 respondents, the Sharif brothers and Sanaullah. The case against 125 officials, including former inspector general of police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera, is still pending before the ATC.
ECL demand
Addressing a news conference afterwards, Dr Qadri demanded the immediate release of the report and asked the federal government to put the names of the accused in the case on the Exit Control List (ECL) to ensure that they could not escape.
“The entire Sharif family has already flown to England to avoid the ongoing corruption case against them. Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has also packed his bags and is ready to fly sometime tonight. However, it will be impossible for them to avoid justice as 14 innocent lives were lost in the Model Town massacre,” he claimed.
Model Town tragedy: LHC suspends trial court’s order
Qadri played a video clip from a 2014 press conference of the chief minister in which he promised that he would take no time in stepping down if he was proven guilty in the judicial inquiry.
The PAT chief said Shehbaz had said that he would present himself before courts if he was proved guilty but now the Punjab government was planning to file an intra-court appeal against the LHC verdict.
He asked why the report had been concealed if the hands of the chief minister and his aides were clean. He praised the LHC for announcing the “historic judgment”.
Qadri said the Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif for corruption and his entire family and cronies were resorting to mudslinging against the courts, the judicial system and national institutions, while PAT and its workers who had lost their loved ones never spoke a word against the courts. The PAT workers had been denied justice for over three years, he said. They held protest marches and sit-ins, but no action was taken against any of the 126 nominated accused in the FIRs, including ministers, police officers and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders, he said.
Model Town tragedy case: LHC forms full bench to hear plea
However, now the situation had changed and for the first time the LHC had given hope to victim families that they would get justice, he said.
Qadri alleged that the Sharifs were trying to keep the inquiry report secret because their hands were stained with the blood of innocent PAT workers.
He also asked the provincial bureaucracy to hand over the report to the victim families, warning that the countdown to the end of the Sharifs’ rule had begun.
“There is no future for any member of the Sharif family in Pakistani politics. If the report is not released immediately, PAT will file a contempt of court petition,” he warned.
PAT has also demanded the resignation of the chief minister, alleging that he was responsible for the incident.
The Lahore High Court ordered the Punjab government on Thursday to make public the report of an inquiry conducted by Justice Ali Baqar Najfi into the killing of 14 workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek in 2014 during an ‘anti-encroachment’ operation near Dr Tahirul Qadri’s home in Model Town.
“Since it is the outcome of judicial proceedings, it is a public document,” said the order issued by Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi on petitions filed by the victims’ families.
“Therefore, in the public interest,” the judge issued directives to make it public so that the legal heirs of the deceased, as well as the injured, may learn about the actual wrongdoers who were directly or indirectly involved in the gruesome violence.
Not happy with the court order, the Punjab government decided to challenge the verdict. The provincial advocate general will file an intra-court appeal before the LHC.
Model Town incident: LHC reserves verdict on plea to release inquiry report
The petitioners had contended that the police, under the garb of handling the law and order situation, on the instructions of the government had taken the action that lasted till midday on June 17, 2014. During the incident, 14 people were killed and about 85 others suffered firearm injuries when police opened fire allegedly to control violent people who had gathered at Idara Minhajul Quran, they said.
Barrister Ali Zafar, the counsel for the petitioners, argued that releasing the report was a matter of public interest and the government was bound under the law to give them the required information. He said it was a case of fundamental rights.
The lawyer said the judicial tribunal had been constituted to find out the facts and fix responsibility on the perpetrators, and the chief justice had appointed Justice Najfi to hold the inquiry.
He said the report was in the custody of the government but despite the lapse of three years, it had been refusing to make it public.
He said the heirs of the deceased had the right under Article 9-A of the Constitution, the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013 and Qanoon-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 to obtain a copy of the report.
Shujaat says Sharifs will pay for Model Town tragedy
Additional Advocate General Shan Gull argued that the report was only for the benefit of the government and it was not obliged to disclose it.
He said six constitutional pleas filed on the same subject were pending before a full bench and one writ petition had been dismissed in 2016.
He said the petitioners could not seek the publication of the inquiry report because it was not a public document and judicial commissions were constituted after such incidents to seek guidance to avert their recurrence.
The government lawyer also pointed out that the petitioners had boycotted the tribunal’s proceedings at one stage.
Model Town tragedy: Court spares police chief from ATC appearance
“If the inquiry report is made public, it might prejudice public order, which is exclusively within the domain of the government to tackle, hence the petition be dismissed,” he said.
However, the judge observed that the record of the other six petitions mentioned by the law officer reflected that none of them had been filed by any legal heir of the deceased or injured. A petition by Jawwad Hamid, which was dismissed by a full bench, as pointed out by the law officer, had been filed on different grounds, he said.
PAT had filed a complaint before an anti-terrorism court against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, some federal ministers and police and administration officials.
The ATC gave a clean chit to 12 respondents, the Sharif brothers and Sanaullah. The case against 125 officials, including former inspector general of police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera, is still pending before the ATC.
ECL demand
Addressing a news conference afterwards, Dr Qadri demanded the immediate release of the report and asked the federal government to put the names of the accused in the case on the Exit Control List (ECL) to ensure that they could not escape.
“The entire Sharif family has already flown to England to avoid the ongoing corruption case against them. Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has also packed his bags and is ready to fly sometime tonight. However, it will be impossible for them to avoid justice as 14 innocent lives were lost in the Model Town massacre,” he claimed.
Model Town tragedy: LHC suspends trial court’s order
Qadri played a video clip from a 2014 press conference of the chief minister in which he promised that he would take no time in stepping down if he was proven guilty in the judicial inquiry.
The PAT chief said Shehbaz had said that he would present himself before courts if he was proved guilty but now the Punjab government was planning to file an intra-court appeal against the LHC verdict.
He asked why the report had been concealed if the hands of the chief minister and his aides were clean. He praised the LHC for announcing the “historic judgment”.
Qadri said the Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif for corruption and his entire family and cronies were resorting to mudslinging against the courts, the judicial system and national institutions, while PAT and its workers who had lost their loved ones never spoke a word against the courts. The PAT workers had been denied justice for over three years, he said. They held protest marches and sit-ins, but no action was taken against any of the 126 nominated accused in the FIRs, including ministers, police officers and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders, he said.
Model Town tragedy case: LHC forms full bench to hear plea
However, now the situation had changed and for the first time the LHC had given hope to victim families that they would get justice, he said.
Qadri alleged that the Sharifs were trying to keep the inquiry report secret because their hands were stained with the blood of innocent PAT workers.
He also asked the provincial bureaucracy to hand over the report to the victim families, warning that the countdown to the end of the Sharifs’ rule had begun.
“There is no future for any member of the Sharif family in Pakistani politics. If the report is not released immediately, PAT will file a contempt of court petition,” he warned.
PAT has also demanded the resignation of the chief minister, alleging that he was responsible for the incident.