LAHORE: PML-N firebrand Rana Sanaullah on Friday got back the provincial law ministry which he lost in June last year in the wake of the Model Town incident in which 14 supporters of Dr Tahirul Qadri were killed.

Governor Rafique Rajwana administered oath to him in the presence of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the Governor House, where the media was not invited.

Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, wife of known economist Dr Hafeez Pasha, also took oath. She has been given the portfolio of finance.

While the oath-taking ceremony was under way, workers of the Pakistan Awami Tahreek gathered at China Chowk to protest against Sanaullah’s restoration to office. Police stopped them from heading towards the Governor’s House.

A minister in the provincial cabinet told Dawn that unofficially the law portfolio remained with Mr Sanaullah since his sacking.

“Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman was a ceremonial law minister. Mr Sanaullah used to attend most law-related meetings in the province and was authorised by the chief minister to take decisions in consultation with him,” he said.

There also has been an impression in the PML-N circles that the Joint Investigation Team was constituted primarily to give ‘clean chit’ to Shahbaz Sharif and reinstate Rana Sanaullah.

The JIT formed by the Punjab government to investigate the Model Town incident had exonerated Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah of “ordering or abetting the police action”. “On rumours that PAT activists had kidnapped two policemen and that another policeman had been killed, some personnel of the force opened fire either on the orders of SP Security Salman Ali or on their own,” declared the JIT.

All JIT members unanimously declared Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah “innocent” and dismissed allegations levelled against them in the FIR lodged by the Minhajul Quran’s director administration as “baseless and without any evidence”.

The JIT report is in contrast with the findings of a one-member judicial commission which held the Punjab government responsible for the Model Town killings and said police acted on government orders which led to the bloodshed.

The report said the affidavits of Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah contained contradictions regarding the orders they reportedly issued to police to disengage.

“It seems the word ‘disengagement’ was an afterthought to save the chief minister,” a source quoted the contents of the report.

The Punjab government has yet to make the report of the judicial commission public.

PAT PROTEST: A number of PAT workers held a rally against the reinstatement of Rana Sanaullah.

Police stopped the protesters from reaching outside the Governor’s House. After negotiations the PAT workers agreed to hold demonstration at China Chowk.

Holding banners and placards, the protesters raised slogans against the chief minister and Rana Sanaullah.

PAT Secretary-General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said Sanaullah was responsible for the killings in Model Town and his reinstatement amounted to mockery of law. He said the JIT report was “a pack of lies” and contrary to the facts.

He said the report had given a clean chit to the people who ordered straight firing on PAT workers. He said the JIT had summoned 42 witnesses on May 30, showing it had yet to complete its findings.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play