LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday acquitted former inspector general of police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera and three others in the 2014 Model Town firing incident.

Presiding Judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar granted the acquittal applications filed under Section 265-K of the Cr.P.C by former IGP Sukhera, former DIG operations Rana Abdul Jabbar, former SP Model Town Tariq Aziz, and former town municipal officer (Nishtar Town) Ali Abbas.

Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Secretary General, Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, the aggrieved party in the incident, has announced his intention to challenge the acquittal of the accused persons before the Lahore High Court.

In a statement, he claimed that the trial court acquitted the guilty police officers without hearing the counsel of the victims’ families. He further stated that the court had been informed that the counsel would be out of the country until May 21.

However, Gandapur said, the court decided the acquittal applications of the accused persons in ex-parte proceedings.

Advocate Burhan Moazzam Malik, the counsel representing some of the police officers, told Dawn that the acquittal applications had been pending before the court for over a year, with frequent adjournments requested by the complainant’s lawyer or the PAT.

Judge Buttar consistently postponed decisions on the acquittal applications during each hearing since 2022, due to the transfer application being pending before the LHC.

Advocate Malik primarily argued that the applicants/police officers did not face direct charges, as they were merely implicated in the case due to their presence at the crime scene.

Sukhera was represented by Advocate Tayyab Jafri.

The judge adjourned hearing on the acquittal applications of former SP Omer Virk and others till May 19.

In this case, the court had acquitted Lahore Commis­sioner retired Capt Muhammad Usman last year by allowing his acquittal application.

Ten people were killed and around 100 injured during an ‘anti-encroachment’ operation outside the residence of PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri in Model Town on June 17, 2014.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2023