Model Town incident: Perpetrators to face punishment, says Imran

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday telephoned Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) supremo Dr Tahirul Qadri after the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected the pleas calling for summoning of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif in connection with the Model Town case.

According to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Media Department, Imran Khan in his phone call to Qadri promised that he would instruct the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to ensure that action was taken against those behind the Model Town massacre as he ordered to remove the policemen involved in the incident from their present positions.

The prime minister made it clear to the PAT leader that there would be no compromise on equal application of law and those responsible for the bloodshed of innocent people (in Model Town) could not be allowed to escape the justice system. He also told Dr Qadri that the provision of speedy justice without discrimination was one of the top priorities of the PTI government. He vowed that those responsible for the Model Town incident would be produced before the court.

A day earlier, a full bench of the Lahore High Court decided on two appeals filed by PAT and Idara Minhajul Quran, challenging a trial court’s decision regarding the 2014 Model Town incident. The PAT, in its appeal, had challenged the decision of an anti-terrorism court to the extent of not summoning 12 people (all former or current parliamentarians of the PML-N), nominated by the party in its private complaint.

Dr Qadri thanked the premier for giving a ray of hope for justice and appreciated the prime minister's vision to uphold justice in the country, the media department said. At least, 14 persons were killed, including two women, and over 100 injured during the ‘anti-encroachment operation’ outside the Model Town residence of PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and offices of Minhajul Quran on June 17, 2014. The media had shown footage of the police massively thrashing persons, including elderly men and women that day.