LAHORE: The Punjab government notified on Thursday a new joint team for investigating the June 17 killings in Model Town, about two and a half months after a sessions court ordered registration of a fresh FIR on a complaint of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

In the FIR, Dr Tahirul Qadri’s party held Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, some ministers and police officers responsible for the shooting in which over 10 of its workers were killed and several others injured.

The sessions court had issued the order on Aug 28.

PAT rejects govt move

The five-member JIT is headed by Quetta police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema and comprises one member each from two security agencies and an SP and a DSP who will be nominated by the Punjab IG.

Sources in police said the JIT had been formed by the federal government and that was why it was headed by the Quetta CCPO.

Sources in the Punjab government said that under the law only officers in BS-18 could be made members of a JIT. Therefore, the nomination of DSP, a BS-17 officer, seems irregular.

Meanwhile, PAT rejected the JIT, saying that it was not headed by an officer of its choice.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2014