LAHORE: The Supreme Court has been asked to order the Lahore High Court registrar to release report of an inquiry conducted by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi into 2014 Model Town incident wherein Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers were killed in police firing.

Advocate Sheraz Zaka has made this request through a petition filed at the Lahore registry of the Supreme Court.

The lawyer states prima facie the only reasons for not disclosing the inquiry commission report are the apprehensions, which are remote and far-fetched.

He says a larger bench of the LHC is already seized with a number of petitions demanding the Punjab government to make the inquiry report public.

He pleads that Article 19 of the Constitution provides right to freedom of speech and expression and the people have the right to know whatever has been written in the inquiry report.

The lawyer argues it is a recognized fact that there is a thin line between “in public interest” and “against the public interest”. And the right balance and equilibrium has to be maintained between the two, he adds.

Therefore, he argues, the report should be made public and its recommendations would obviously result in improving the governance mechanism of the entire Punjab province.

Advocate Zaka urges the court to direct the LHC registrar to make the inquiry commission report public on the website of the high court.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017