SC disposes petition to suspend new JIT probing Model Town massacre

Top court tells LHC to announce verdict against the JIT petitions within three months

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday disposed a petition to suspend the new joint investigation team (JIT) probing the 2014 Model Town incident.

On June 17, 2014, at least 14 people were killed and over 100 sustained injuries when the Punjab Police opened fire on Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers during an anti-encroachment operation outside the residence of PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri in Lahore’s upscale Model Town neighbourhood.

The top court directed the Lahore High Court (LHC) to announce the verdict against the JIT petitions within three months.

"In the Model Town massacre, many people were killed and many were injured," the chief justice said.

Suspension of new Model Town JIT challenged in SC

The Awami Tehreek lawyer said the decision to stop the JIT from working is malicious.

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed questioned who made the new JIT and why, to which the lawyer representing the Punjab Police preyed that one case was registered by the federal government and one by the people.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan said the Punjab government had promised to form a new investigation team.

“If the new JIT had not been formed, the provincial government would have committed contempt of court,” he added.

"The LHC interfered with the SC order," the Awami Tehreek lawyer said.

After the attack in 2014, the PML-N, which was in power at the time, formed two joint investigation teams (JITs) – one after another – to launch probe into the incident but the PAT complained that the teams failed to record statements both of the injured and the accused.

Model Town accused appear before new JIT

Later, in December 2018, the PTI led Punjab government formed a new JIT to launch a fresh probe into the incident. The new JIT recorded statements of a number of victims and accused, including the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

However, the LHC on March 23, 2019 suspended the Punjab government’s notification “till the final decision of the main writ petition”. A three-judge LHC bench issued the verdict with a majority view of 2-1.

The court was told that a JIT had already completed 80 per cent of the investigation on the basis of facts and had collected information from all the stakeholders.

They said the team had recorded statements of both the complainant and accused. However, the LHC has suspended notification of the JIT as a result of which the investigation process has stopped.