PAT chief wants new JIT to probe Model Town carnage

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Saturday showed up before a Supreme Court bench as it took up a case related to the Model Town carnage.

The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, was hearing a petition filed by Bisma, one of the affectees of the Model Town incident, at the apex court’s Lahore registry.

The PAT chief pleaded the bench to constitute a new joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the Model Town incident afresh.

He contended that it is important to constitute a new probe team as the matter couldn’t be fairly investigated in the past. The accused were themselves complainants in the previous JIT and he didn’t expect to get justice from the partial inquiry team, he added.

Dr Tahirul Qadri claimed that the JIT recorded one-sided testimonies as per its wishes and the affectees didn’t appear before it out of fear and pressure from the then government.

After hearing initial arguments, the bench issued a notice to the provincial government to submit its response to the plea seeking constitution of a new JIT to probe the incident.

It directed the relevant anti-terrorism court to take up the Model Town cases twice a week instead of daily and summon relevant officials.