LAHORE: The Punjab government is keeping the report of the judicial commission on the Model Town incident secret, but according to hearsay it pins the blame solely on police.

The commission had handed over its report to the provincial government on Aug 9. At least 11 activists of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek were killed and many others injured during a clash with police on June 17.

Sources in the Punjab government on Friday said the report was handed over to the home department that was studying it. The report was being considered a top secret document and not allowed to be seen by junior officials of the department.

The sources said it had not been sent to the chief minister for action, if any, as yet. But they said the assumption was the report blamed police for the incident. And this assumption had made the security force cautious about handling public gatherings, especially the march of Dr Tahirul Qadri, to avoid any mishandling.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2014