LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday indicted 116 police officials in the 2014 Model Town killing case.
All of the 116 accused pleaded not guilty and opted to contest their trial. The hearing was postponed till the next week when prosecution witnesses would be summoned.
Nine other accused in the case, including former DIG operations Rana Abdul Jabbar, did not appear before the court on Thursday, and their counsel were directed to ensure their presence at the next hearing.
The private complaint had been moved by the Idara Minhajul Quran (sister organisation of Pakistan Awami Tehreek) and the court had partially admitted it in 2017, against 125 police officials and district government officials. The complaints against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and ten others including federal/provincial ministers were dismissed.
Meanwhile, appeals of the accused officials are already pending hearings before the Lahore High Court.
In the previous week, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had taken suo motu notice of delayed proceedings of the Model Town incident, after meeting a delegation of families of the victims at the SC’s Lahore registry.
The CJP had summoned the record of the case and also sought a report from the advocate general.
At least 14 persons were killed and over 100 injured during an operation launched by the police in front of the Model Town residence of PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on June 17, 2014.
The twelve political leaders against whom the trial court had rejected the complaint include ousted prime minister Sharif, chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, MNA Hamza Shahbaz, foreign minister Khwaja Asif, railways minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, state minister Abid Sher Ali, former information minister Pervez Rashid, former interior minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan, and others.
Published in Daily Times, April 13th 2018.
