Appeal moved to SC over resumption of JIT investigations in Model Town Case

LAHORE: Appeal to let the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) investigating the Model Town Case resume its work filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan today (Thursday), ARY News reported.

The Model Town incident which resulted in the deaths of several Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) protesters along with scores injured was being investigated by a JIT under the then IGP Punjab Arif Mushtaq some 15 days after the Model Town incident.

A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, had disposed of the suo motu notice on Dec 5 after the Punjab government apprised the bench that a new JIT was going to be formed to investigate the Model Town case.

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Bisma Amjad, the daughter of Ms Tanzila Amjad, who was killed on June 17, 2014 in Model Town police action, had submitted an application to the chief justice, seeking the formation of a new JIT to probe the killing of innocent workers of PAT and Idara Minhajul Quran.

Expressing distrust in the earlier [JIT] reports, PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri had also made his appearance in the court on Dec 5 urging it for a new JIT saying that no progress has been made in the case.

The second five-member JIT formed on Nov 17, 2014 had conducted and finalised the investigation in May 2015, exonerating former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and former provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah from charges of ordering or abetting the police action.

It was headed by Quetta police chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema and comprised ISI’s Col Ahmad Bilal, Intelligence Bureau’s Director Mohammad Ali, Senior Superintendent of Police Rana Shahzad Akbar and DSP Crime Investigation Agency Khalid Abu Bakr.

The new JIT (third) was constituted on January 3 this year for a fresh probe into the 2014 Model Town carnage, following a notification issued by the Punjab chief secretary.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) had issued a written judgment on dissolution of the new joint investigation team (JIT) formed to investigate the 2014 Model Town incident afresh on March 23.

The judgment said that under the anti-terrorism act a JIT could not be constituted twice and Additional Chief Secretary was not empowered to issue the notification of a fresh JIT, the court said.

Appeals in favor of the JIT to resume investigations were moved to the Supreme court by Bisma Amjad, the daughter of Ms Tanzila Amjad, who was killed on June 17, 2014 in Model Town police action along with Jawad Hamid, a party worker.

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The applications argue that the law allows trials and investigations to run simultaneously and also allows the formation of a JIT multiple time if need be according to the case.

The appeal further details that the current JIT was formed by the Punjab Government following the orders of the Supreme Court.

The High Court has meddled with the affairs of the Supreme Court and was akin to impacting free and fair investigations, the application claims.