Punjab govt asked to file reply in Model town incident by Nov 24

Directive came during hearing of appeal challenging single bench to make inquiry report public

LAHORE: A full bench headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh on Wednesday sought reply from the Punjab government by November 24 over a vacant post of the information commissioner in an appeal filed by the government challenging a single bench’s verdict for making public the Model Town judicial inquiry.

As the proceedings commenced, counsel Azhar Siddique advocate and Khawaja Ahmed Tariq Raheem of the Pakistan Awami Tehrik argued that the post of the information commission had been lying vacant since long owing to which they were not optimistic that they would ever receive any information.

They implored that how a commission will work when there will be no commissioner or any member.

Justice Shehbaz, expressing his dismay, remarked that the government itself had made the institution dysfunctional by not appointing someone on the post.



The counsels for the petitioners while completing their arguments prayed the bench to dismiss the government’s appeal and maintain the single bench’s order of publishing the Model Town inquiry report.

The counsel for the police officials contended that there will be no loss if the report is made public. However, the court sought reply by the government by November 24.

During previous proceedings, advocate Azhar Siddique and Khawaja Ahmed Tariq Raheem – counsels for the Pakistan Awami Tehrik – contended that the judicial inquiry of the Model Town incident was a public document and every citizen had the right of information under law.

They implored that the Model Town inquiry was conducted on the directive of the Punjab government which meant to bring to book the actual culprit responsible for the incident as well as to dispense justice to the heirs of the injured and martyred people.

They implored the court that the legal heirs of the deceased as well injured did not know who the actual culprits responsible for the massacre were.



They further argued that the Punjab government should first conduct a judicial inquiry of the incident and then start disgracing Justice Ali Baqar Najfi through its contemptuous remarks.

They prayed to dismiss the Punjab government’s intra-court appeal and the judicial inquiry of Model Town incident be made public.

Counsel for the Punjab government Khawaja Haris had contended that the Model Town report had no judicial significance.

He argued that the government had ordered the inquiry to know about the actual facts of the incident to avoid such incidents in the future.

He prayed the court to set aside the order of the single bench.