Model Town case: Qadri asks army chief to intervene

PAT chief rejects JIT formed by the govt. Wants JIT from K-P with members of ISI, IB, MI and police

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri on Friday asked the Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif to look into the matter of the newly-constituted Joint Investigation Team (JIT) tasked to probe the Model Town clashes, in which 14 PAT workers were killed.

Dr Qadri warned that if the justice is not served, the army might have to launch an operation across the country, warning that people could take up arms in revenge.

“Army chief should also launch Zarb-e-Adal in Lahore and Islamabad or God forbid the country could descend into anarchy.”

Addressing a press conference at PAT Secretariat in Lahore through a video-link from Canada, the PAT chief claimed that General Raheel had acknowledged three of their demands as fair.

“The demands were to register an FIR of 14 murders, formation of a JIT and resignation of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif till completion of the investigation.”

Qadri claimed that the army chief had previously been requested by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to play its role. The PAT chief explained that it is for that reason that he was now asking the COAS to intervene since none of the commitments made by the government were being fulfilled.

Rejecting the JIT formed by the government consisting of Abdul Razzaq Cheema, the PAT chief said that were ready to accept a JIT from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, consisting of members from the ISI, MI, IB and police.

“Cheema has personal relations with Sharifs and we do not accept a JIT under him,” he added.