LAHORE: Seeking referral of the Model Town firing case to the same Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that investigated the money laundering charges against the Sharif family in the Panama Papers case, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to deliver justice for his party as well.

In his 50-minute address to his party workers at Nasser Bagh after his return from abroad, Mr Qadri occasionally used uncharitable remarks. “The thief has been caught but the murderer is still at large. I am back here to ensure that the younger brother is also ousted the way the elder brother has gone.”

Mr Qadri, who landed at Lahore airport in the morning, took four hours to reach the venue of the public rally, where, according to the PAT’s claim, some 30,000 workers had gathered to greet their leader. Police put the number at 5,000.

Representatives of four opposition parties — Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, Awami Muslim League and Sunni Ittehad — attended the PAT show. The rally was earlier addressed by former governor Chaudhry Serwar, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Chaudhry Zaheer Ahmad.

“Our case, where 14 workers were killed by the police, has been lying with the Lahore High Court for three years. The PAT named 126 people in the FIR. Not a single one is behind bars. Rather, all police officials, accused by the PAT, have got promotions,” Mr Qadri claimed.

The Supreme Court, he said, had gone soft on the Sharifs, otherwise they could have been jailed for seven years for submitting fake documents in court. “Even now, the PML-N is governing the Centre. It is also in power in Punjab, which is 55 per cent Pakistan. What are they protesting for and against? Problem is with the mentality of the Sharifs; for them democracy only means their own rule. If the elder Sharif is out of power, the entire governing structure becomes suspect and smacks of conspiracy for him. The trouble is with the Sharifs, not with the court or the army,” he said.

“The Sharifs need to come clean what they meant by conspiracy? Are they accusing the judiciary, which has gone soft on them already? Or, they think the army is conspiring. Only yesterday, the chief of the army staff promised the rule of law in the country. The PAT condemns any attempt to malign the judiciary and the army and stands by them,” the PAT chief said.

“The only thing the PAT wants is making public of the Najfi report and anyone held responsible be punished,” he said, referring to a single-member commission which was formed to investigate the Model Town tragedy.

Earlier addressing the rally, leaders from other supporting parties backed the PAT’s demand for justice and condemned allegations against the judiciary and the army.

It is the third attempt by Mr Qadri to return to the country at some politically sensitive occasion and try to play a role. Earlier, he returned to the country in January 2013 to hold a week-long sit-in and then in August 2014 to join the PTI for the sit-in.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2017