Punjab govt told to produce inquiry report again on 14th

The bench was unable to examine the report because there was little time to study it, Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh says

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC), headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh, ordered the Punjab government to produce Justice Najafi’s inquiry report on the Model Town incident again on November 14, observing that the report could not be properly examined.

As the court took up the appeal filed by the Punjab government against the order passed by a single bench, Justice Sheikh asked the Punjab government’s lawyer Khawaja Haris if he had brought along the inquiry report. Haris replied that he had complied with the court’s order.

But Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh said the bench could not examine the report because there was little time to study, adding that it should again be produced on November 14.



Advocate Azhar Siddique and Khawaja Tariq Ahmed Raheem, lawyers representing the Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT), contended that the inquiry on the model town incident was a public document and under the law, all citizens had the right to information.

They pointed out that the inquiry had been conducted on the orders of the Punjab government for bringing the people responsible for the incident to justice. They said that the legal heirs of those who were killed in the incident did not know who was actually responsible for the massacre. They argued that although the Punjab government conducted the judicial inquiry on the incident, it disgraced Justice Ali Baqar Najfi by way of contemptuous remarks. They requested the court to dismiss the Punjab government’s intra-court appeal and called for making the judicial inquiry public.



Previously, Punjab government’s lawyer Khawaja had contended the report on the Model Town incident had no judicial significance. He reminded that the government had ordered the inquiry to ascertain facts to avoid the recurrence of such incidents.

He pointed out that the case on the Model Town incident was still pending in court and publicising the report would affect the trial’s outcome.

Contending that the single bench, comprising Justice Syyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, had not heard the government’s version while handing down its decision. He requested the court to set aside the single bench’s order.



On September 21 this year, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi had ordered the Punjab Home Department to issue the Model Town inquiry report to people affected by the incident.

The judge held that because it was judicial proceedings, the aggrieved families were constitutionally entitled to have this report.

At least 14 people died and more than 80 others got injured when police and PAT workers clashed over the issue of barriers outside the Minhajul Quran’s Secretariat in June 2014.