Lahore clashes: Judicial commission summons IG Punjab, DCO Lahore, DG LDA

Dr Tahirul Qadri rejects judicial commission constituted by the government. Says they will file their own FIR.

LAHORE: The one-man judicial commission formed to probe in Model Town incident has summoned Inspector General Punjab Police, DCO Lahore and Director General Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to appear before the tribunal on Thursday.

The commission, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi has ordered IG Punjab, DCO Lahore and DG LDA to appear before it. The commission is investigating the incident in which at least eight people-including two women- were killed during the clashes between Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) supporters and Police on Tuesday.

Earlier, the district and sessions judge Jawadul Hassan was appointed as registrar for the tribunal.

Other officers of the tribunal include Jamshed Akhtar Shaheen as assistant to registrar, Muhammad Din as staff officer of the tribunal, Samuel Javed as private secretary, Ghulam Yasin and Shahzad Khalid as additional private secretaries to the tribunal. Javed Iqbal has been appointed as custodian of record while Muhammad Naeem and Muhammad Azeem Badar will be Naib Qadids.

Qadri rejects judicial commission

As the judicial commission took shape, PAT leader Dr Tahirul Qadri on Wednesday rejected it noting it had been constituted by the government.

Qadri said they would not join any judicial or police inquiry as no judicial commission would be independent during the tenure of the incumbent government.

Addressing a press conference via video link from Canada, Qadri said that instead of relying on the FIR registered by the police on its own, they would file an FIR on their application and would ensure impartial investigation after ouster of the incumbent government.

He accused the government of trying to associate PAT activists with firing by showing fake bullet injuries in medical legal certificates of different police officials. He said the government is also hide bullet injuries of PAT activists, instead claiming they had been caused by sticks and stones.

He claimed that the barriers in question were installed by the police on the orders of the Lahore High Court four years back. He argued that if the police had any objection over the barriers, they should have approached the party during the day and resolved the matter thorugh dialogue.