Model Town case hearing adjourned till today

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court Wednesday adjourned the hearing of petitions filed against the second Joint Investigation Team of Model Town killings till today (Thursday).

The bench comprises Chief Justice Ameer Bhatti, Justice Malik Shehzad Ahmed Khan, Justice Alia Neelum, Justice Shahbaz Rizvi, Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem, Justice Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh. The bench observed that each party in the case will be given ample opportunity to be heard.

Azam Nazir Tarar, counsel for the petitioning police personnel, took a stand before the bench that the statements of 23 witnesses were recorded in the case.

The police have the power to make arrests and interrogations but the complainant party did not take advantage of this opportunity. Now the order has been issued to form a second JIT after they failed to implicate 13 political personalities in the case. New JIT will open a new Pandora’s box. He pointed out that a new JIT cannot be formed in this situation when investigation has been completed and evidence has been recorded in private complaint case.

If a new JIT is formed, it will be an obstacle to justice in the future, he added. The complainant in the first Model Town tragedy case requested that the second application be investigated, not the first.

The trial court and the high court have ruled that there is no evidence against the 13 persons. Will an SHO now summon 13 persons against the court order? Tarar’s arguments continued when further hearing was adjourned till September 16.