New JIT demanded for probe

A JIT formed to investigate the Model Town incident had exonerated Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah

LAHORE: Opposition legislators demanded on Wednesday constitution of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the Model Town massacre after Justice Najafi’s report has negated the claim of Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s affidavit.

While addressing a press conference, leader of the Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said there was a need to probe whether the CM had ordered the police to stop the operation because the report indicated no such order was passed.



He said the Supreme Court of Pakistan should set up a JIT for the purpose and a senior judge should also be nominated to supervise it.

He said the Punjab CM seemed very helpless in his affidavit in which he claimed he had ordered the police to stop the operation. He said it was astonishing that no one listened to the orders of the chief minister. “If, no one listens to him, he should have resigned,” he remarked.

He said if he had ordered the police to step back on 9:30pm and then why the operation continued till 1:00pm and why the CM did not intervened.



He said interesting enough that the CM is claiming in his affidavit that he had passed order but the Justice Najfi’s report revealed that no such sort of order had been given the CM. He said neither the law minister nor any police officials seconded the claim of the chief minister when they appeared before the tribunal.

A JIT formed in November 2014 to investigate the Model Town incident of police firing on activists of PAT had exonerated Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah from charges of ordering or abetting the police action

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2017.