The Supreme Court on Saturday fixed the date for hearing of a petition against the Lahore High Court’s decision to not summon former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Model Town case.
On September 26, the LHC had rejected a petition to summon the Sharif brothers and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah in the Model Town case. Following LHC’s decision, the petitioner had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.
The top court fixed the petition for hearing on Friday. A two-judge bench comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmad and Justice Faisal Arab will hear the petition. Notices have been sent to all respondents, including the petitioner.
The Punjab government, at the behest of the Lahore High Court, had made the report of the Model Town incident public on December 5, 2017. The inquiry report, prepared by Justice Baqir Najfi commission, said that police tried to cover up the facts regarding who gave orders to open fire on protesters.
It added that no legal opinion was sought from the Punjab advocate general prior to the start of the operation. The commission, in its report, also stated that on the ground, the standoff continued the whole night, resulting in minor injuries to police constables as well as PAT workers. The commission observed: “The level of cooperation in digging out the truth is that no police official from top to bottom, whether actively participated in the operation or not, did utter a single word about the person under whose command the police resorted to firing upon the PAT workers.” Further, in its conclusion, the commission said, “It is shocking to note that everyone has deliberately but unsuccessfully tried to cover each other from possible adverse legal effects.”
Published in Daily Times, November 11th 2018.
