‘Govt used force to stop PAT activists’

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood has said the report of Justice Ali Baqar Najafi on Model Town carnage has exposed that government had launched Model Town operation just to stop Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers with brutal force.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Mahmood said the report has exposed the Punjab government’s intensions. It included all the reports given by the departments concerned. Punjab Police resorted to violence just to stop Dr Tahirul Qadri’s long march, he added.



PTI leader accused the government of using a pretext of removal of barriers (by the PAT workers) for use of brutal force against the protesters. He observed that the report revealed that police deliberately opened fire at the protesters. “Thus, the government desired to kill people. As per a report by ISI, no gunshots were fired from Dr Qadri’s house,” he added.

Mahmood also accused Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif of lying in his sworn statement and added that the incident took place near the house of the CM and hence a question arises that why his (the CM) orders were not followed.

“The fact is that the chief minister never gave an order of retreat to the law enforcement agencies. A well thought-out conspiracy was hatched to counter the protesters under the direction of the CM and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah who prepared the plan,” he alleged.



He claimed that since both the CM and his law minister were responsible for the tragedy, they refused to make the report public. He also claimed that the orders of opening fire on the protesters were carried out on the direction of the CM. He held Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah responsible for the killings at Model Town and thus he demanded that the CM should resign immediately. He further demanded that criminal proceedings should be initiated against the two ‘culprits’.

“We will continue to support Dr Qadri and his party and they will announce their future line of action after the PAT’s decision on the matter,” he concluded.

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