Pakistan: Nawaz, Shahbaz and 19 others booked for Model Town murders

FIR registered under Sections 148, 149, 324, 302, 109, 427, 395 and 506 of Pakistan Penal Code and 155/C of Police Order 2002

Police registered a case against 21 people, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz, Punjab ex-law minister Rana Sanaullah, five federal ministers and police officers over the deaths in Model Town during a clash between protesters and police, on Thursday.

The FIR was registered under Sections 148, 149, 324, 302, 109, 427, 395, 506 Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and 155/C police order 2002. The police registered the case on the complaint of Minhajul Quran Director Administration Jawad Hamid after a lapse of two months and eleven days. The complainant submitted an application to Faisal Town SHO for the registration of murder case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, MNA Hamza Shahbaz, former law minister Rana Sanaullah, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, State Minister for Power and Water Abid Sher Ali, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Rana Abdul Jabbar, Model Town Superintendent Tariq Aziz, Superintendent (Headquarters) Maroof Safdar Wahla, Civil Lines Superintendent Umar Cheema, the security superintendent, the Model Town assistant commissioner, a town municipal officer, Kahna Station House Officer Inspector Ishtiaq and Nishtar Town Station House Officer Ahmad Majeed Usman.

The complainant said that the police officers, including DIG Operations Rana Abdul Jabbar, SP Headquarters Maroof Wahla, SP Model Town, SP Civil Lines, SP Security along with AC Model Town and TMO had come to Minhajul Quran Secretariat to demolish barriers, but they were told that they had been set up on court and police orders four years back for security purpose. He further said that DIG Rana Abdul Jabbar had informed him that he had received an order from Punjab CM and law minister Rana Sanaullah to eliminate the PAT chief and demolish the PAT secretariat.

The complainant further said that the government had started panicking after Tahirul Qadri announced return to Pakistan on June 23, 2014 to hold a movement for the implementation of his 10-point reforms agenda “for the helpless and impoverished class”. He said that the killing of PAT workers were a loud and clear message from the government to Qadri prior to his arrival in the country. He said the police had resorted to tear gas shelling and later opened firing at the main gate of Qadri’s residence when the PAT workers staged a protest demonstration against the “unwarranted action of the Lahore police”. He said that DIG Operations Rana Abdul Jabbar had directed the police to open fire at PAT workers if they did not move back from Qadri’s residence. The complainant alleged that the police opened fire at the instigation of DIG Operations Rana Abdul Jabbar.