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Thursday March 28, 2024

Uproar in Assembly over JIT findings

LAHOREPUNJAB Assembly witnessed complete disorder Thursday after Opposition lodged severe protest over the clean chit given to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah and other officials by JIT in Model Town case. “This decision is totally unacceptable to us, it is against the spirit of justice, innocent people were gunned

By Faizan Bangash
May 22, 2015
LAHORE
PUNJAB Assembly witnessed complete disorder Thursday after Opposition lodged severe protest over the clean chit given to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah and other officials by JIT in Model Town case.
“This decision is totally unacceptable to us, it is against the spirit of justice, innocent people were gunned down mercilessly but after passage of one year, clean chit has been given to the accused” said Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, Opposition leader in Punjab Assembly while lodging his protest over the JIT decision on a point of order during the PA session. The Opposition members at the same time started chanting ‘Go Nawaz Go’ slogans which plunged the House into complete disorder, as giving a tit for tat response, PML-N members also started chanting ‘Go Imran Go’ slogans. The Opposition later also staged a walkout in protest.
The Opposition leader in his speech said the report prepared by Justice Baqir hadn’t been made public by the Punjab government which clearly indicated the elements behind Model Town carnage.
“How can we expect justice when accused are heading government as well as other institutions, as long as they are in power, requirement of justice couldn’t be fulfilled” said Mehmood-ur-Rasheed.
Zaeem Qadri, who is also the Punjab government spokesperson, said that Model Town killings were really a sad occurrence and Prime Minister, Chief Minister as well as entire nation had expressed profound grief over it. He said so far as the JIT verdict was concerned, it had given its findings after thorough investigation. He said the perception that anyone sitting in government had influenced it was totally wrong as the JIT had given its decision while keeping in view the all aspects and treating them on merit. He said that FIR of Model Town incident wasn’t registered by the Punjab government; rather it was Pakistan Awami Tehreek itself which had nominated the persons according to its will in it. He said once the JIT had declared the accused not guilty, the decision should be accepted.
However, the Opposition members continued chanting ‘Go Nawaz Go’ slogan during the explanation given by Zaeem Qadri and finally announced boycotting the proceedings in protest against the JIT clean chit to the Punjab big wigs.
After a few minutes, Speaker Rana Mohammed Iqbal Khan sent a provincial minister and an MPA to bring back the Opposition members to the House. The Opposition ended the boycott and returned to attend the proceedings of assembly.
Later, Sheikh Allauddin of PML-N in an adjournment motion voiced serious concern over the rapid increase in the cases of child molestation in Punjab and demanded stern punishment for the elements involved in the heinous act through summary trial within few hours.
The mover said that in a recent incident, a minor girl in district Sargodha had been sexually abused and now battling for life in Children Hospital Lahore.
Sheikh Allauddin, who hails from Kasur and is an active legislator of PA, continued that there had been number of cases when parents of rape victims were unable to get justice even after searching for it from pillar-to-post. He added that even if these victims survived, they were unable to lead a normal life.
He went on to say that nearly two months ago, a body of a child molested by unidentified persons was found from a mosque. He said such cases occurring in seminaries and mosques were deliberately ignored.
The PML-N legislator stated that in a school of Islampura, Lahore, a five-year-old girl was raped and the ground reality seemed very grim as places like schools, mosques and even hospitals had become nightmarish spots for the children.
Citing a documentary named, Streets of Shame, the mover said he couldn’t muster up the courage to reveal the facts shown in that. He demanded strict monitoring of places like schools, mosques and seminaries.
The motion was made pending until the next week.
Through another adjournment motion which was made pending until next week, Sheikh Allauddin took up the issue of diesel theft. He said MD WASA Chaudhry Naseer had caught officials involved in diesel theft and stated that it was really unfortunate that fuel, which costs millions of rupees and had to be used for provision of water, had been stolen by corrupt officials.