LAHORE Dec 05 (TNS): A larger bench of the Lahore High Court is set to announce today its verdict on a petition of Punjab government challenging a single bench’s decision to release the report of a judicial inquiry carried out into the Model Town incident.
The full bench comprising Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh, Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi, and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin had earlier on November 24 reserved the verdict on an intra-court appeal filed by the provincial government through which it challenged the decision of the single bench that called for making the report public.
The single bench comprising Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi had allowed a petition filed by the victims of the incident on Sept 21, directing the government to release the report.
The provincial government’s lawyer argued before the bench that the matter was sub-judice before a trial court and releasing the report at this juncture will affect and jeopardize the trial, opening a parallel trial in media.
The single bench didn’t fulfill legal requirements while deciding the case and didn’t consider the government’s contention, he contended.
He further said the report has become a dead document because it has served its purpose.
On the other side, the counsel for the Pakistan Awami Tehreek argued that the report was a public document and should be declassified. The government was bound under the Right to Information Act to provide access to such information, he submitted.
The counsel maintained that the government was itself accused in the Model Town incident and thus it did not make the report public.
On July 17, 2014, 14 people were killed and 100 others injured when the police opened fire to disperse protesting PAT workers during an anti-encroachment operation outside the residence of PAT chief.
