Ex-DCO Capt Usman acquitted in Model Town case

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court Tuesday acquitted former District Coordination Officer, Lahore Division, Capt Muhammad Usman (retd), in the Model Town case.

The court observed that the plaintiff Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) could not establish the allegation against Capt Muhammad Usman (retd). The accused had moved an acquittal application before the court. The court of Ijaz Ahmad Buttar in its judgment stated that the role of the accused in the alleged conspiracy could not be established. The court concluded that that there was no probability of the conviction of the accused in this case and acquitted him.

Earlier, the court had indicted more than 120 persons in the case, including 116 police officials, on a private complaint filed by Idara Minhajul Quran for seeking their trial on charges of killing its workers during the 2014 Model Town incident. The court had in 2017 partially admitted the complaint against 125 officials of police and district government while rejecting it to the extent of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, ex-chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and 10 others including federal and provincial ministers.

The 12 political leaders against whom the ATC had rejected the complaint were Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, MNA Hamza Shehbaz, Rana Sanaullah, Kh Saad Rafiq, Kh Asif, former information minister Pervaiz Rasheed, Abid Sher Ali, former interior minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan, then personal secretary to chief minister Syed Tauqir Shah, Azam Suleman and then Lahore commissioner Rashid Mahmood Langrial. Fourteen people were killed and more than 100 injured during the anti-encroachment operation outside the Model Town residence of PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on June 17, 2014.