Model Town violence: Is judicial commission report public paper?
Advocate Syed Ali Zafar said the public had a right to such information under Article 19-A of the Constitution.
LAHORE:
Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the provincial government by January 12 on a petition seeking the report of the judicial commission formed to probe the Model Town killings in June to be made public.
Advocate Syed Ali Zafar filed the petition on behalf of Minhajul Quran.
He said the public had a right to such information under Article 19-A of the Constitution.
He said 14 people were killed and 85 others were injured in Model on June 17. He said the government had set up a judicial commission headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the LHC to probe the matter.
Zafar said the commission had submitted its report on August 9, 2014.
He said the report must be published.
He referred to the UN General Assembly Resolution 59(1), Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, Article 10 of the Council of Europe and the May 1999 Resolution of the Commonwealth Law Ministers, where it said that governments were duty-bound to impart information requested by citizens.
He asked the court to direct the government to submit an attested copy of the report. The court directed the advocate general to reply on behalf of the government by January 12.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2014.
Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the provincial government by January 12 on a petition seeking the report of the judicial commission formed to probe the Model Town killings in June to be made public.
Advocate Syed Ali Zafar filed the petition on behalf of Minhajul Quran.
He said the public had a right to such information under Article 19-A of the Constitution.
He said 14 people were killed and 85 others were injured in Model on June 17. He said the government had set up a judicial commission headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the LHC to probe the matter.
Zafar said the commission had submitted its report on August 9, 2014.
He said the report must be published.
He referred to the UN General Assembly Resolution 59(1), Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, Article 10 of the Council of Europe and the May 1999 Resolution of the Commonwealth Law Ministers, where it said that governments were duty-bound to impart information requested by citizens.
He asked the court to direct the government to submit an attested copy of the report. The court directed the advocate general to reply on behalf of the government by January 12.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2014.