Plea for making tribunal findings public put off

Hearing adjourned as head of the bench, Justice Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan on leave

LAHORE:

A full bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday postponed indefinitely the hearing of petitions seeking the court direction to make public the findings of the tribunal that investigated the June 17 clashes in Model Town.

The hearing was adjourned as head of the bench, Justice Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan, was on leave.

Muhammad Zubair Khan Niazi, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader, and others had filed the petitions naming the interior secretary, the Punjab law minister, the information secretary, the home secretary, the inspector general, the district coordination officer, the capital city police officer and the operations deputy inspector general as respondents.

The petitioners’ counsel said the respondents, supported by a political party, were not allowing the report to be made public.

He accused them of denying citizens their right to information.

He said access to information was a fundamental right under Article 19-A of the Constitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2014.