By Muhammad Luqman
The Lahore High Court has ordered the government of Pakistan’s Punjab province to release the inquiry report of Model Town incident which left 14 Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers dead, according to media reports.
On June 17, 2014, in police action against the party during an anti-encroachment operation outside the residence of party chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, 14 workers had died as a result of police firing and more than 80 were injured.
In the aftermath of the incident, a judicial tribunal headed by LHC’s Justice Ali Baqar Najafi had been constituted for finding out facts and fixing responsibility on the perpetrators.
The commission completed the inquiry and submitted the report to the Punjab government on August 9, 2014. However, the government had refused to make it public since then.
The victims had then petitioned the high court who argued that releasing the inquiry report was clearly a matter of public interest, and the government was bound under the law to give the required information to the general public.
