Friday, March 29, 2024

Model Town tragedy: LHC stops new JIT from doing work till April 30

Model Town tragedy: LHC stops new JIT from doing work till April 30
April 19, 2019
LAHORE (92 News) – The Lahore High Court (LHC) has stopped the new joint investigation team (JIT) from probing into the Model Town tragedy till April 30. During the hearing, LHC has given time to Punjab government to submit reply in the case within 15 days. Justice Qasim Khan, who headed the three-member bench, wrote a dissenting note in the case. The court issued a notice to the Punjab government seeking a reply in this regard. The advocate general Punjab (AGP) requested court to give more time for reply. The petitioner adopted a stance that the second JIT could not form one the same matter again. Ina the previous hearing, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had appeared before the court for the hearing of a notice issued to Advocate General of Punjab Ahmad Awais for contempt of court regarding formation of new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in Model Town carnage case. The CM told that Ahmad Awais had resigned as Punjab Attorney General over which Justice Qasim Khan said that AG is province’s higher official. The LHC ordered the new JIT to stop the probe and annulled the notification of its constitution. It has sought a reply from the Punjab government regarding the new JIT. The new JIT 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. On June 17, 2014, Punjab police went to remove the barriers placed outside PAT Chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s residence and MQI Secretariat in Model Town. The MQI workers resisted the move which led to a deadly clash leaving 14 workers dead and dozens injured.